Chapter Seven

"Miss Carmen! Hi, Nana. Miss Carmen!"

I'd just been leaving Gloria's office with her when Gia came pelting out of the elevator, full-speed, down the hall towards us. She nearly face-planted when she tried stopping right in front of us. We both lurched forward to try to catch her, though she didn't actually tip over. "Mama said you work with us now, Miss Carmen!" she said, bouncing on her toes and making her pigtails bounce, too.

I couldn't help but notice her wording, which was probably something she'd taken directly from her mother. Work with us, not for us; I loved that. And it embodied everything I'd experienced so far at Gladstone. "I sure do, Gia. Are you okay with that?"

"I love it!" she cried, throwing her arms in the air in very dangerous jazz hands. Thankfully, there wasn't anything nearby that she could knock into, other than her grandmother or me. "That means I get to see you more!"

"I'm really glad I get to see you more, too!"

"Gia, Mama's not very fast anymore right now, so that means…" Giselle said, still halfway down the hall. Her husband, David, hovered at her side, though he looked like he also wanted to chase Gia down.

"That means I gotta slow down," Gia replied, sounding a lot like Thumper when his mom had reminded him to say nice things or nothing at all. "But Miss Carmen is here, Mama! Can I ask her now about the surprise?"

"You mean the surprise you just spoiled?" Gloria muttered. I couldn't keep a little snort of laughter in.

Giselle and David just shook their heads in nearly identical ways. "Yes, baby, you can ask Miss Carmen about the surprise," he said indulgently.

"Yes," Gia hissed, pumping her fist in celebration. Her celebration actually took a minute, because she then started dancing.

"You gonna tell Miss Carmen, pumpkin, or just keep dancing?" Giselle asked as she finally made it to us.

Gia stopped in her tracks and looked up to me. "Yeah, we wanna thank the nice firefighters, and Mama said they're your family?"

My heart melted just a bit, but I managed to reply. "Yes, they are. And they would love a thank you from you!"

She bounced again. "Awesome! I maded cards, and Daddy an' me are gonna make cookies, an' we wanna take 'em some stuff! Can you come with?"

"Only if you have time, of course," Giselle was quick to add.

"Absolutely! When were you thinking of visiting them?"

A quick text to Buck told me when everyone was on shift together next, so I made plans with Giselle and David to make the very next morning work. Which was probably good, because I think Gia might have exploded in anticipation if she'd had to wait any longer.

I knew from what the team had shared that typically mornings were quieter for them, so I met the younger Gladstones at the firehouse around ten, and Gia was wiggling in excitement long before David got her out of her car seat. And she insisted on holding my hand into the building, which melted my heart further. We might have skipped inside, but only because she wanted to. I was just glad I'd chosen to wear flats that day so I didn't break an ankle at that attempt. That might have put a damper on the day's plans.

Buck and Eddie were washing the engine as we walked in, and both flashed me a big grin as they saw me. "Hey Car- Oh, hi, Gia!" Buck said, grinning even harder when he saw my companion. "Are you feeling all better now?"

"Uh huh," she sang, dancing around as she still held on to my hand. "We wan'ed to see you!"

"Me?" he asked, eyes big and exaggerated as he crouched down to (closer to) her height.

"Well, you and ev'rybody else," Gia amended. "Like Miss Hen!"

"Miss Hen would love to see you," Eddie assured her with a soft smile of his own. The one that made his eyes shine. And he crossed his arms, making his biceps pull at the sleeves, and- NO, Carmen, there is a child here, you cannot thirst over the man with a child here! And he's at work. Bad Carmen! "I think she's upstairs, do you want to go see her?"

Giselle and David finally caught up to us. "She's talked of very little else since we saw you last," David assured. "You all in general and Miss Hen in particular."

"Can we go see her, Daddy?" Gia asked, desperately pleading with every ounce of her little body.

"Of course, pumpkin."

"Do you want a ride from the tallest seat in the house?" Buck asked her, still crouched next to her. At this point, my knees were kind of twinging in sympathy for him.

But Gia just looked at him in confusion. "What's the tallest seat?"

Buck looked to her parents for confirmation really quickly, then grinned big when he got it. "My shoulders," he answered. She simply squealed and threw herself at him.

He scooped her up and stood all in one smooth motion, then trotted away as he swung her up onto his shoulders. "Miss Hen is finishing up some dishes, I think, so let's go talk to her while she's doing that."

Eddie was grinning as he turned to Giselle and David. "Buck's fantastic with kids, so she's in safe hands, I promise. I've trusted my own son with him for years."

"We trust Carmen's family," Giselle answered quickly. "But we should probably follow before she talks his ears off."

"Oh, that can't happen," I assured. "Buck is not only wonderful with kids, he also is a chatterbox to rival Gia, so they'll be best of friends by the time they get to the loft."

But we did all head up the stairs, with David hovering protectively at Giselle's side. It was pretty adorable.

"I didn't think I'd see you until Friday," Eddie said lowly to me. His eyes were still sparkling, and it was terribly unfair.

"You missed me, Diaz?" I asked him with a bump to his shoulder. He just laughed and bumped my shoulder back.

"No, but Gia is insistent on visiting, now that her ribs have healed, and she insisted on me coming with," I told him, a grin coming back to my lips at the thought of the little girl who was quickly stealing my heart. "And I think Giselle felt a little more comfortable coming with me, since I know you all. For being a fantastic business woman and a phenomenal designer, she sometimes has a bit of social anxiety," I added lowly.

"You're her emotional support Carmen, I get it," he replied, grinning at his own joke.

I didn't have a chance to retort since we'd made it up the stairs and Bobby was there, waiting to press a kiss to my cheek. "Hey, sweetheart, I wasn't planning on seeing you today," he told me.

"That's because this was a surprise visit, Cap'n Bobby!" Gia reminded emphatically, still upon her throne of Buck's shoulders.

"Well, that explains everything!" he replied, just as emphatically, making her giggle.

Gia pointed to the container in her dad's hands. "We maded cookies for you!"

"Did I hear something about cookies?" Chim suddenly joined us from out of nowhere. "Well, hello, Gia! You sure grew a lot in just a couple of weeks!"

That set her giggles off again. "You're silly, Mr. Chim."

"My daughter says the exact same thing, and I just don't know why?"

Giselle passed out the cards that Gia had made to the correct recipients, and everyone was quick to praise her artistic skills. And then Hen suggested a tour, since none of us had ever been there before. The three of us visiting adults tried to demure, since we didn't want to be in the way, but Bobby was quick to allow it. "Just as long as everyone remembers that if the alarm goes off, we'll have to leave really quickly."

Gia nodded solemnly, promising that she wouldn't get in the way, either. I just tried not to die at her adorableness.

So, I got to spend half an hour or so with some of my favorite people, and they got to show off one of their favorite places. It was a win-win situation, especially when Buck and Hen sent Gia down the pole to Chim and Eddie, and she squealed happily the entire way down.

"Miss Carmen, you gotta do it, too!" Gia shouted up at me. "Mama's tummy's too big, so you gotta do it next!"

Well, I couldn't let a five-year-old show me up, so I warily walked closer to the pole and looked down the hole that surrounded it. Chim had Gia off to the side, so I didn't squash her, but all three of them looked up at me. "If I don't stick the landing, you're on catching duty," I warned Eddie, and he just grinned up at me again.

"I've got you," he assured.

That really shouldn't have sent butterflies fluttering around in my entire abdomen, but of course it did. "It's a good thing I'm wearing pants and flats today," I muttered, then gripped the pole before I could overthink more.

And then I was at the bottom. My knees maybe bent further than I'd anticipated, but Eddie's hand on my back kept me from continuing on to the floor. "I told you, I've got you," he said softly.

I forced myself to look at him, though that really didn't help the butterfly situation. "Well, I didn't end up sprawled across the floor, so that's got to count for something," I replied, with just a touch of sass. Or, you know, a lot of sass. Whatever.

But it made him grin, so I counted it as a win.

Eventually, we made it back upstairs and Bobby served us the hot chocolate he'd made while the rest of us did the tour. "Thank you for this, it's delicious," Giselle said, happily gulping it down. "And the baby seems to like it, too, so even better!"

"There's some more, if the baby needs it," Bobby offered with a little smile.

She grinned back. "The baby just might need some more, but in a minute." She took a deep breath and her husband's hand. "Thank you for this, for the whole visit, and especially for saving our little girl."

"She's our world," David added, "and I can't imagine life without her."

"But I'm good now!" Gia announced happily, then went back to her hot chocolate like she was dying of thirst.

"It's our pleasure, I promise," Bobby said. "And really, we just gave a really quick ride to the hospital."

"And we're so grateful for that." Giselle's smile was taking on a watery tinge, so I took her other hand and squeezed. She squeezed back and took another deep breath. "And to show our gratitude, we want to do something for you. Something more than just cards and some cookies."

"You really don't have to-" Buck began to protest, but Giselle cut him off with a soft shake of her head.

"I know we don't, but we want to. And honestly, I'm contrary enough that if I felt like I had to, I wouldn't be nearly as enthusiastic about it."

"No wonder you get along with Carmen so well," Hen said, seemingly innocently.

I gasped in fake offense, and Giselle laughed, another squeeze to my hand. "You might be on to something there. We were both raised by strong independent women, after all. But, back to our thanks. I'm not letting you distract me anymore! We talked with Carmen, and she talked with her mom, and together, we decided that we want to pay your grocery bill each month. For the whole house."

All the firefighters in the room stared at her. And stared at her. And stared some more. "You realize that's thousands of dollars each month, right?" Chim finally asked.

"You realize I'm a millionaire, right?" Giselle shot back, fill of sass and kindness.

Bobby stood up and headed straight to the stove. "Thank you, Giselle," he said as he poured the rest of the hot chocolate into another mug. "We won't insult your generosity by trying to protest anymore, so thank you. That is incredibly generous, and we appreciate it very much." He brought the mug back and pushed it toward Giselle. "And you're more than welcome anytime you want for a visit."

Giselle had a few tears streaming down her face by this time, so she impatiently rubbed them away. "Pregnancy hormones are the worst," she muttered, making us all laugh. "I really want to do this for you all. You were there helping at one of the worst moments of my life, and you all were so good to help not only Gia, but me. You helped me keep calm, and you did it all without hesitation. So, thank you for accepting my gift."

"We really appreciate it," David said, his own voice a little watery. "Words can't express it."

"Carmen did all the real work," Buck said hurriedly, like he wanted to push the attention off onto me.

Eddie picked right up where he left off. "Yeah, she's the one who dived in the pool. We were just- just fast Uber drivers."

I cackled, and everyone else laughed. "We've already thanked Carmen, quite a bit," Giselle assured, and she squeezed my hand again as she looked at me with a soft smile. "So it's your turn now."

The alarm sounded, breaking the moment just a little. "We'll let you all get back to your job now," David grinned, while all the firefighters jumped to their feet.

"But I'm not leaving until after I finish this hot chocolate!" Giselle said quickly. "I'm not leaving this deliciousness."

AN: I'm not dead, I swear! I just keep forgetting to update. But I'm pretty attached to Carmen, so we'll continue on. Thanks for continuing to read this, and a big thanks to Angel JJK and Riordanlover16 for your reviews. I do love them!