After dropping the adolescent off with the ER personnel, TK lingered in the supply room, pretending to restock. Nancy finished that paperwork, and the three paramedics met up in the ambulance bay. Tommy spoke first, "Our shift ended halfway through that call. Do you want to stay here, TK?"

"I don't want her to be alone. Carlos should be coming soon," he said, avoiding a direct answer.

"So stay. Nancy and I will take the rig back. Do you need someone to come pick you up?"

"I don't know. Probably not. If Carlos is still working, I can Uber back to the station for my stuff. I can figure something out. Are you sure you don't mind?"

"Of course not. Right, Nancy?"

"Yeah, we're fine. I'll text you when I'm ready to head home - see if you need anything."

"Thanks, Nance." He loved his coworkers.

He left his friends and made his way back to the cubicle where his patient had been wheeled, grateful that his uniform afforded him access to places others would have been refused.

Dr. David Blais had been a resident of the busy Austin Emergency Department long enough to know a belligerent teen when he saw one. "Do we have a name on this girl, yet?" TK heard him ask as he approached the room. Chica, as TK found himself referring to her as, was struggling to escape the gurney and had three people trying to prevent that.

"Nothing written here," one of the nurses said.

"Kid, stay still. We;re trying to take care of you," the doctor said, then addressed the nurse again. "Find some restraints. I can't work like this."

TK stepped forward. "What? No, don't restrain her."

The doctor looked up at him. "You know this kid?"

The nurse, Jessica, had been employed by the hospital for way longer than Dr. Blais. She knew things ran quicker and more efficiently when she answered for others. "That's the EMT who brought her in."

"Well, if you can calm her enough so I can examine her, have at it."

TK hurried to take the place of the nurse at Chica's head. He placed one hand on her forehead and reached for her hand with the other. "Hey, hey," he said, "look at me." When she complied, he continued. "It's ok. Remember me? TK?" She nodded and stilled. "You're ok. I'm right here. You're safe. I'll stay with you, but you need to stop fighting so the doctor can take care of you."

She shook her head and started fighting again.

"Hey!" the doctor shouted. "Calm down!"

"Please, chica, stop. They're going to restrain you if you don't." Her movements ceased. "Good girl," he said, "just keep looking at me and this will be over soon. I promise."

He methodically brushed her hair back off her forehead as he spoke encouragement to her. Dr. Blais directed all his questions towards his patient, but no one in the room expected her to answer. "Sweetheart," he decided to call her, "how long were you in the building for when the fire started? Where is your pain? Let me know if anything I'm doing hurts."

She squirmed as much as the arms holding her fast would allow, but showed no other signs of distress. TK continued placating her, only stopping when the doctor spoke.

"I'm going as fast as I can. You're doing great. Stay with me a little longer," to the nurse he said, "cbc, chest x ray, start her on fluids and nutrients. Obviously, keep the oxygen flowing. Let's give her something for the anxiety, too."

"Halcion?" the third medical person in the room, an intern, asked.

Dr. Blais grimaced, "Eh, she's a little young for that."

'How about a Mayer's cocktail?" TK said.

The doctor looked up at TK. "You brought her in," he said. "Do you know her?"

"Just met."

"I really don't want to have to restrain her. Mayer's might not be enough to keep her calm."

"I'll stay with her."

"Ok, seems above and beyond to me, but you do seem able to calm her." To the nurse he said, "Start her with the Mayer's. Let me know if it seems she needs more. And find me when the results are back.

Something caused the girl to sleep. Whether it was the adrenaline rush, the IV mixture, TK's presence, or a combination of all three, he did not know, but he stayed by her bedside nonetheless in case she woke. He did not want her to be alone. Carlos entered the cubicle a little while later.

"You stayed," he said.

TK shushed him and pointed to the sleeping girl.

"Is she ok?" Carlos asked, voice lowered.

"Yeah. Seems so. Waiting for tests. Did you find out anything about her?"

Carlos walked to the head of the bed to take a look at Elayna for himself. He smoothed her dark brown hair back and adjusted her oxygen mask. He could not understand why he was drawn to her, but she needed someone in her corner. "I did," he said. "Her name is Elayna August. She is a runaway foster kid. Her social worker is on the way over."

"Poor kid," TK said, resuming the seat he vacated when Carlos entered. "How old is she?"

"Eighth grade. What's that? Thirteen?"

A tall middle-aged brunette, wearing dressy jeans, a lavender blouse, and heels walked into the room. "Officer Reyes?" she asked.

"Yes," Carlos said, straightening.

"Hi, I'm Maggie Miller. I've just been assigned to Elayna's case." She reached a hand out to shake, then turned to TK, "and you are?"

TK stood and shook her hand as well. "TK Strand. I'm the paramedic who brought Elayna in."

Ms. Miller looked back and forth between the two men. "I'm confused," she said. "Why are you still here?"

Carlos answered. "He's actually my husband. We both met Elayna on the call." It all sounded so strange and a bit unorthodox when he said it aloud. "We just . . . "

"We didn't want her to be alone," TK answered.

"Oh- kay,"

Despite all occupants' efforts to keep quiet, the influx of people and voices in the small room aroused Elayna. She grabbed at the oxygen mask covering her mouth and nose. Carlos and TK were at her side in a moment. Carlos, still in uniform, intimidated her. She turned towards TK. He eased her hands from her face and adjusted the mask. "Take it easy, Elayna. You're ok, but you still need this."

She settled but removed the mask to talk, "How do you know my name?"

"Found your backpack," Carlos said. She turned to face him, standing on the opposite side of the bed. Her gaze traveled from the bag in his hands to his eyes. They were not as hard as they seemed before at the fire, and she reached for his hand. "We can leave this here." He placed that backpack under the stretcher and held her hand with both of his.

Her eyes scanned to the woman standing at the end of her bed. "Who's that?" she asked.

"That's Ms. Miller," Carlos said. "Your case worker?"

She wanted to bolt from the bed and from the room but had enough common sense to know that neither of the men next to her would allow that. She also figured untangling herself from the IV would prove problematic. Instead she glared at the woman and said, "I've never met her."

Maggie swallowed hard and hoped no one would notice. She was new enough on the job to know that she needed to appear confident in front of the children, but everyone intimidated her. "I was handed your file this morning, Elayna. I'm not sure what happened to your last case worker."

"She was a bitch," she said, "I hope they fired her."

TK guided her oxygen mask back into position and softly shushed her.

Maggie turned towards the officer. "Maybe we should go somewhere more private to talk."

"To talk about me?" Elayna said, sitting up and pushing TK's hand away from her. "I don't think so!"

"Elayne," Carlos said as he kept her rooted on the bed. "Stay here with TK. Please. I'll go talk to Ms. Miller and see what the situation is. Can you do that for me?"

She wanted to say no, jump out of the bed and run screaming down the hallway about not going back to that house. And she was not trying a new one. She had done that and she refused to do it again. Her hopes rose every time that this home would bring peace and stability, but things never worked out for her. Despite all these feelings raging in her mind, she nodded in agreement at the officer.

TK stayed with Elayna for a few moments, but she was quick to fall back asleep, and he was curious. He ventured into the hallway and heard voices coming from a conference room across that hall. Wanting to be close to the girl, and stood in the doorway and listened as Carlos spoke to the social worker.

"I can take her - we, we can take her - my husband and I - we're foster parents, I mean. Well, not yet. But we can be approved. We just haven't yet. I mean, we can - we're just at the final stages. Yeah, sorry. We'll take her."

"Ok, Officer Reyes." Maggie couldn't help but smile at his stammering. "I'm sure that will be fine with me, but do you want to take a second and make sure it's all set with your husband?"

Carlos turned and saw the handsome, albeit smirking, face of his husband standing behind him, eyebrow cocked. "Oh my God!" he said, dumbfounded that he had not even considered TK's feelings about the matter.

"It's ok," TK took a step forward and placed a hand on his spouse's arm. "I'm in."

"Are you sure? Maybe. . . maybe, we should talk about it."

Moving a bit closer, and lowering his voice so only Carlos could hear, he said, "A thousand times, yes." It had become their code over the years, since Carlos had declared it during TK's marriage proposal. It meant, simply, that no further conversation was necessary.

Carlos turned back to the social worker and, feeling TK's scratches on his back, said, "We'll take her."

Author's Note: Thanks for reading! I almost took that 1000x yes out at the last minute, but decided to keep it in. Let me know what you think!