As the next few days would end up going by, Spinelli dropped by every so often with Andy in her arms. Dean, Gibson, Pep, Stella, Donovan, and others would also drop by to visit Arnold and Travis.
When Spinelli came to see him, they always greeted each other with a passionate kiss on the lips and nuzzle their noses together.
Everytime his friends and family came by, they'd always talk about memories and what was happening at the station.
After three days have passed Phoebe came into Arnold's room. Spinelli and Gibson were with him.
A knock on the door was heard.
"Arnold? Hey, how are you holding up today?" Phoebe chirpily asked. "I am ready to finally move my legs and get back out there!" Arnold chuckled.
"Yeah well, you're gonna be out for at most a month and a half to get back on the job. Two months for a full recovery." Gibson added. "Who cares about work? I just want him to sleep beside me again! I missed feeling his presence beside me." Spinelli replied.
"Well Arnold, time for you to finally get out of bed." Phoebe smiled as she started to disconnect the stuff he was hooked up to.
After a minute, Arnold was finally able to move freely. Spinelli soon walked up to him and gave him a minor peck on his lips.
"Let's save our fun for later." She smirked. "Uh, Spinelli? I'm afraid he probably won't be able to… have sexual intercourse with his abdominal area still injured… I think you probably have to wait for that…" Gibson was looking around at random things, trying not to overhear like a kid watching a movie with their parents.
"Anyhow, Arnold, you're free to go home now. I'll write some prescriptions for the pain since it may become sharp at times, which should be normal. It won't be too often and shouldn't last long. If you need anything, you know where to find me." She chirpily said with a smile. "Thanks, Phoebe." He smiled.
"Surprised you can walk now and you couldn't even stand up in the factory." Spinelli snickered. "It's my abdominal area that was hurting, not my legs." Arnold smirked. They all soon walked out of the room.
At Home
"Ugh, it feels SOOO GOOD to be back on this couch!" Arnold kicked his feet up on the coffee table. "I believe you have company." Spinelli then whistled. Bandit and Diesel ran out of Andy's room and toward their owner.
They jumped onto the couch and started barking at him and licking his face.
"Alright, alright! I missed you two!" Arnold laughed as their two dogs gave happy expressions after.
Spinelli soon came over with Andy, who was reaching for her father.
"Awww, who missed daddy? I sure missed you, sweetie! Come to Dad!" Arnold soon took Andy from Spinelli's arms. "I missed my baby girl so much!" Arnold gave her a close hug. Spinelli smiled and slithered her arms around him.
"I'm so glad to be back home with my family once more." Arnold kissed Andy's cheek. "I'm more than happy to have you back beside me, Arnold." Spinelli rested her head against his.
"I love you." Arnold smiled and turned to face her. "Aw, I love you more." She turned to face him.
The two gave a few kisses on their lips repeatedly before giggling and nuzzling their noses together.
"Well, I'm gonna be out of the station for the rest of the month at least. And I'm pretty sure I'm gonna have to adjust to not seeing you as much."
"Actually, I'm taking the week off. I wanna be beside you. I missed you so much, and I wanna spend this entire week together whether we go out or not."
"I hope we'll be able to go out on a date soon, I have so many things I want to show you." Arnold gave a loving smile. "We'll soon get our chance. We'll soon get it."
Arnold then started to chuckle.
"What's so funny?"
"No, nothing. I was just thinking back to this five-alarm we once faced, after Rhonda's passing.
Brief Flashback
"Who's gonna stay behind and watch Andy?" Arnold asked as he looked at his daughter. He then came to a realization. "My name is on her birth certificate… And I'm her only family… Guys! I'll stay! I'll watch the front desk. She's my kid."
"SHE'S OUR KID!" Scott Gibson shouted from the equipment room.
"Thank you, brother. But this is my kid, and I'm not risking myself and leaving her with no family." Arnold then carried Andy as Gibson, Vic, and Dean ran out from the equipment room carrying their turnout gear.
Present Day
"It really touched me when Scott said that. Guess he's like an uncle to her."
"Aww. That was nice of him. She's our kid now. Just you, and me." She smiled. "One day, Andy will officially be your kid." Arnold looked at his daughter.
"What? What are you getting at…?" She asked, rather confused. "You'll have to see what I mean by that, honey." Arnold kissed her cheek and left Spinelli confused on what he meant.
Arnold looked over to a shelf that contained a framed photo of him and Rhonda's wedding photo.
Arnold chuckled.
"What's so funny now?" Spinelli asked. "Remember the day after my wedding?"
"Oh, I definitely remember that party you threw! But what about the day after?"
"There was a five-alarm at a warehouse. And I remember how much Rhonda hung onto me before I left." Arnold smiled. "I remember how long that took us to fight that fire. Nearly until the next day! But you know something… I love five-alarms." Spinelli replied. "Really? How so?"
"I'm not saying I like big fires, what am I, an idiot? No. I mean seeing every fire truck from every station in the city. It just feels so amazing to see the variety of trucks and truck designs! And at night, when all those siren lights are on, it just feels good, y'know?" Arnold smiled at her. He then put a hand over her hand. "I know that feeling, and that's a reason why I love this job." The two smiled.
"Diesel, stop hitting your little brother!" Arnold noticed Diesel hitting Bandit on his head with his paw. Diesel did as he was told and stopped.
"Ugh, I'm so happy you're back! The number of times I've had to look after these two more than Andy… It's like they're more of kids than Andy is." Spinelli complained. "Aw, don't worry. All you can do is just relax." Arnold caressed her cheek and then slowly kissed her.
"Oh, yeah… I- I missed this." Spinelli giggled as they kept kissing. "Believe me, I missed this more than you did." Arnold kissed her nose.
"Just come here!" Spinelli yanked on his jacket and pulled Arnold straight into a kiss. "I'm starting to think I should take more than a week off… Hphm…" Spinelli said as they kept kissing.
After a couple of minutes of kissing, Arnold and Spinelli looked at one another.
"I love you, Ashley Funicello Spinelli." Arnold smiled. "And I love you, Arnold Shortman." Spinelli also smiled as their foreheads touched.
The journey to a full recovery began, and Arnold was more than anxious to fully recover from his injury. He planned to visit Travis soon enough as well.
Meanwhile…
Stella, Kurt, Joe, and several police officers came out from an elevator and walked to Jalen Dixon who was giving a press conference.
"May we help you?"
"Police, we need a word with Dixon." The officer said. "More like Dick for short." Stella snorted.
"Jalen Dixon, how you doin'?" Stella started. "Sorry folks. Can't you see I'm in the middle of a press conference?" The corrupt politician said.
"Maybe in the middle of a press conference in jail, you might." Kurt said. "What?" Dixon looked over.
"These detectives would like to question you on why you hired multiple associates to create a phony manpower study, not only that, why you hired an arsonist who eliminated your fingerprints and also eliminated your associates." Stella soon said as she threw a document full of files of evidence of Dixon's crimes.
Every news reporter saw the evidence and immediately started asking away.
"On the night of the factory fire, it was you who slowed down company Truck 55." Joe mentioned. "What?! I was nowhere near that company!" He scoffed.
Stella smirked. "You should be careful when speeding into oncoming traffic when security cameras are around." She pointed at the document. "It has evidence you were the one who delayed the arrival of Ladder 55 to the factory fire. You DELIBERATELY did that, and paid your arsonist to burn down Montgomery Sr's factory." Kurt added.
"You remember when you tested me on reading people?" Stella started. "I can tell you're clearly guilty based on your body language and facial expressions." Stella blew on her nails confidently.
"That's all the time I have, this press conference is now OVER!" Jalen tried to keep calm. But Kurt and Joe stopped him before he walked away.
"You're under arrest, bub." Police officers took over and handcuffed Jalen. "AGAIN?!"
Jalen was previously arrested during his time as Battalion Chief alongside Stella. He was charged with fraud and extortion DURING a five-alarm fire.
"We got it from here." The police officers walked away with Dixon handcuffed as reporters kept asking questions.
Camera lights flashed as they took photos of the Battalion Chief, the Fire Investigators, Dixon, and the police officers.
"Wish Arnold was here to witness this." Stella smiled.