now you see me, now you don't
From the outside of Firehouse 51, things were calm but inside those brick walls things were anything but.
Capp quickly walked back into the common room. "Where is she?!"
"I don't know!" Tony answered, entering the room. "You and Gallo were supposed to be watching her!"
"We were playing hide and seek! Watching means cheating!"
Cruz stood by the TV, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched his teammates tear through the common room and briefing room over and over again. Gallo had even opened and looked through all the snack cages, despite being able to see through them. "Severide is going to kill you."
"Yeah, and I'm going to bring you back so Stella can have a turn." Brett announced from her spot at the table next to Violet. "I can't believe you lost my goddaughter!"
Gallo sighed and came to stand in the middle of the room. Suddenly an idea came to him and he smiled, snapping his fingers. "Does anyone have anything with Maya's scent on it? Maybe we can get Tuesday to track her?"
"Dude," Ritter sighed, exasperated. "Are you for real?"
Gallo shrugged, helplessly.
"Please tell me you at least shut the bay doors to keep her in the firehouse." Violet questioned.
Capp and Gallo looked at each other, horrified. Their eyes grew huge, and they ran out of the common room to check, only to run straight into Mouch and Herrmann.
"Where are you two going?" Herrmann asked.
"Have you two been out here a while?" Gallo asked. There was an almost desperate tone to his voice.
"Yeahhhhh," Mouch answered curiously. "Why?"
"You didn't happen to see Maya run out here, did you?"
"You lost Maya?" Herrmann asked, indignant.
"We didn't lose her," Capp argued. "We're just…. playing hide and seek and she's really good at hiding."
Herrmann rolled his eyes then shared a disbelieving look with Mouch. The two older firefighters turned to look back at their teammates.
"So you lost her." Mouch clarified.
"Fine! Yes, we lost her," Gallo groaned out in frustration. "Now will you please answer the question? Did you see Maya run out here?"
"We were out on the apron the entire time and Maya never came outside," Herrmann finally answered. "So wherever she's hiding, she's still in the firehouse."
Their answer got a sigh of relief from everyone, not just the two firefighters responsible for the current situation.
When Maya's babysitter Sadie stopped by the station earlier that day with Maya, everyone assumed they were just there for a visit. It wasn't unusual for family members, kids included, to visit the firehouse but this visit was different. Sadie seemed stressed and, after a quick conversation with Stella and Severide, she left without Maya.
Stella, with Maya, had come into the common room a few minutes later. She said Sadie had a family emergency and needed a few days. Stella sat Maya down on the ground and the one-year-old immediately toddled over to Brett.
"Kelly and I have to try and find another babysitter or find a floater that can come in and finish one of our shifts. Would you guys mind keeping an eye on Maya for a little bit? Now that she's mastered walking, she doesn't like to sit still anymore." Stella asked her teammates.
They'd all agreed immediately and began taking turns trying to entertain the toddler. Cartoons and cell phone games only kept Maya's interest for minutes at a time and it was clear with her constant squirming that the little girl wanted and needed to move around.
Gallo was the one to suggest they play hide and seek, a game Capp was more than eager to participate in. The two firefighters explained the rules to Maya, and laid ground rules of acceptable places to hide. Cruz had butted in and tried to tell them that the chances of Maya understanding the rules were slim but Capp and Gallo just seemed to ignore him, too focused on their game.
They turned it into a competition, though that surprised no one, and it only took two rounds before they realized Maya was nowhere to be found.
Capp and Gallo searched high and low, leaving a path of destruction through the fire house in their search for Maya. They eventually roped everyone else in to searching with them, checking rooms and spaces Maya couldn't possibly even know about on the rare chance the toddler somehow ended up hiding there.
That's what brought them all into the bunkroom, looking in closets and officers' quarters and under beds and mattresses—every nook and cranny was being searched. The others had figured out that Maya wasn't in the bunkroom just moments after they got in there and they were hanging back, just amusedly watching as Capp and Gallo frantically searched.
The sound of someone clearing their throat caused the two firefighters to stop their search and look towards the direction the noise came from. There, in the doorway, was Casey and Severide.
"Lose something Gallo?" the Captain asked.
"Uh no, not me Captain," Gallo stuttered out. "Capp did. I'm just helping him look."
The two officers turned their attention to the Squad member. Severide spoke this time, raising an eyebrow. "Yeah? Capp, what'd you lose?"
"Uhh," he stumbled for a minute.
He struggled to come up with an excuse and before he could come up with one, Boden joined the group, followed quickly by Stella who had Maya, safe and sound, on her hip.
"Why is the firehouse a disaster?" The Chief asked.
Stella chimed in immediately after. "And does someone want to tell me why I found my daughter in the turnout room?"
Gallo and Capp stared at Stella, Maya and the others, mouths opening and closing in shock. The others were trying hard to hide their smiles and muffle their laughter at their coworkers' reactions. It was understandable of course; firefighter Stella Kidd was intimidating when she wanted to be but mama bear Stella Kidd? She was terrifying.
Finally Capp spoke, breaking through the shock and pointing at Gallo. "Gallo was the one who suggested we play hide and seek!"
Gallo scoffed. "Well Capp was the one who was playing and not watching her!"
"I already told you, watching means cheating!" Capp argued, throwing his hands up in disbelief. "Does no one know how to play?!"
"Guys!" Stella interrupted, affectively putting a stop to their bickering. "You're not answering the question."
"I don't know how or why Maya was in the turnout room. We closed the doors to everything to keep her in the common room," Capp explained. "But closed doors and a room full of firefighters apparently are no match for baby Houdini over there."
Capp threw a funny face at Maya who, from her spot on her mom's hip, giggled. She had no idea what the adults around her were saying, nor what they'd been through over the past several minutes while looking for her.
Stella bounced Maya on her hip, drawing the sixteen-month-old's attention to her. "How'd you get in the turnout room? Huh?"
"I no no," Maya answered, shaking her head. She looked at Capp and Gallo, her honorary uncles, before turning back to Stella. "I win?"
Snorts of amusement and laughs from the adults filled the bunkroom. Severide leaned over and placed a kiss on Maya's head and even then, there was no hiding the smile on his face.
"Yeah baby girl, you won." Stella answered Maya's question with a smile.
The toddler smiled and clapped her hands happily, causing another round of laughs from the adults.
Stella handed Maya over to Capp, the little girl going willingly. "We couldn't get another sitter, but there's a floater coming in. Can I trust you not to lose her again in the few minutes it takes for me to change?"
"We didn't lose her," Capp grumbled, but there was no heat behind his words. Truthfully, he was just thankful Severide and Stella took the situation as well as they did.
"Actually, I'll take her," Casey declared, stepping forward to grab his goddaughter. "Because Capp and Gallo have some cleaning to do."
"What?!" Gallo and Capp called unanimously.
The others laughed, filing out of the bunkroom, leaving Capp and Gallo alone. Cruz and Tony both threw a 'get to it' over their shoulders, unable to pass up an opportunity to poke fun at Capp.
Once alone, Gallo turned on Capp, angrily picking pillows up off the floor. "I thought you said you checked the turnout room?!"
"I did!"
"Apparently not, because you would've found Maya and all of this," Gallo exclaimed, gesturing to the cluttered bunkroom, "wouldn't have happened!"
Capp huffed. "Hide and seek was a terrible idea."
A/N: writer's block is still very much real, but this prompt was suggested over on AO3 and it just spoke to me. If only the 5 other stories I have started would do the same. Oy.
Send me your prompts if you have them! Hope you enjoyed!