Chapter Four

I nodded and took a deep breath. "My father was a police officer with the LAPD. My biological mother, well, she never wanted to be a mother, so I'm still not sure how my dad convinced her to go through with the pregnancy, but she had the paperwork filled out to give him full parental rights before she even went to the hospital. I've never actually met her, and I don't care to.

"But my dad, he was my everything for the first six years of my life. Gladys, I know you and Gloria both know what it's like to be single parents, and I admire the heck out of you both for all you accomplished, both parentally and professionally. So, my dad was a young Latino cop in LA in the nineties, which was about as easy as it sounds, but he somehow made it to every school activity, dance recital, and tee ball game he could. I never wanted for anything and never cared that I didn't have a mom.

"And then, when I was six, my dad was shot on duty, killed in the crossfire of a gang war. My abuela was already raising my four cousins and couldn't possibly take another kid, so my dad's best friend from the police academy stepped up. Athena Carter was my godmother already, had already filled in where Dad couldn't if she was available, and so she took me in. She was single, but she never let that stop her, even though her own mother tried to tell her she would never find a man who wanted a woman with a kid already. Or when others in the department tried to say that she wouldn't be promoted if she was a single mom with a needy kid. She just took me into her home, well, actually kept me in her home, since she'd been watching me during my dad's last shift."

Gladys smiled, softly, warmly. "She sounds like an amazing woman."

"She is," I instantly agreed. "She's never let anyone else stop her from being herself. She was the first black woman to make sergeant in the LAPD, and she's even turned down a promotion since then to stay where she is because that's where she feels she can be, where she can do the most good, help the most."

"Just curious, did she ever prove her mother wrong about finding a man who didn't care she had a kid?" Giselle asked.

Rather fitting, since she was also the child of a single mother who'd gotten married later in life. "Twice, actually," I grinned. "When I was eight, she met Michael, and then they gave me my siblings, May and Harry. They've since divorced, as Michael was finally able to accept that he's gay, but now she's happily married to Bobby, and they're disgustingly in love."

All three women laughed. "Your family, you get it," Gloria told me understandingly. "You get how family is everything."

I nodded. "I do. And I also get how family isn't just the ones you're born with. My godfather, Lou, he's tried to be part of my life no matter what, even when he was undercover with the Ricci family for three years. Michael is still part of my life, even after the divorce. And Bobby, my stepdad, he's a fire captain, and his team is all one big family. He's been a father figure for, well, all of them, from what I've heard, but especially for Buck, who had terrible parents, and now Buck's basically my stepbrother. So, I know that family is those who you choose, who choose you back, those who you would do anything for. And from what I've heard about Gladstone International, that's exactly the kind of environment you've created for the people who work for you. In fact, I've heard a rumor that Miss Gladys meets with every new employee on their very first day, and I think that's incredible."

Gladys, adorably, pinked. "I have a responsibility to take care of the people in my company, and how can I make sure I live up to that if I don't know my people?"

"And I think that is amazing," I assured.

"Mama, can I skate?" Gia hollered from the playhouse.

Giselle nodded. "Of course, baby. You know where your skates are. Grab your socks from the mudroom."

Gia grinned and scampered into the house.

"Now, we've all reviewed your case history, and you had a very impressive record," Gloria started, then paused when Gia came back outside, roller skates in hand, and asked for help getting them on. "Let me help, baby girl. Mama's lap is getting a bit smaller every day," she told her granddaughter.

"Baby Gemma takes up a lotta room," Gia agreed, making us all laugh.

Once the little girl was happily skating, Gloria focused back on me and continued. "But all your work with the DA in Seattle was on criminal cases. And your cases here in LA have all been family law so far. How do you think you'd be able to handle the business side of things, should we offer you the position?"

"Corporate law is very different from both family and criminal law, you're absolutely right. But my focus in school was always on both corporate and family, since my goal was to eventually join Cheryl Samuels's firm. And while school experience isn't the same as the real world, I have experience with writing contracts-"

"Gia, no!" Giselle screamed, shooting up as quickly as she could with her pregnant belly.

I didn't need to ask what was wrong, since I heard Gia's scream cut off by a big splash behind me. And I didn't even think, I just turned and headed straight for the pool.

Gia was struggling, furiously stroking towards the surface of the water, but her heavy roller skates pulled her down on the opposite side of the pool. I jumped in and swam as fast as I could toward her, diving once I got close enough. The chlorine stung my eyes, but I kept them open to make sure I could see the little girl. My hand closed on her arm just as her mouth opened and her eyes fluttered closed.

Adrenaline pumping through me, I yanked up on her body, pulling her with me to the surface. "C'mon, baby, just breathe with me," I muttered, even as I swam one-handedly toward the closest side.

"Gia, baby!" Giselle and Gloria met me at the edge and helped me heave her out of the water. "Baby, please breathe!"

We laid Gia out flat on the ground. "Giselle, you need to move out of the way," Gloria ordered sternly. "She's not breathing, I need to do CPR, and you're in the way, your belly is in the way. Move now."

Shuffling backward, Giselle complied. "Mama's right here, baby. You can breathe. Come back to us, baby. You've got to come back to me. You've got to meet your baby sister, remember? And you're going to be the very best big sister."

Giselle kept up a steady stream of comforting nonsense as Gloria started compressions. "I can do breaths whenever you're ready," I told Gloria, who just nodded and continued pressing on her grandbaby's chest. She only let out a tiny sob when we heard the crack of her ribs and stuttered just the tiniest bit.

I did four rounds of rescue breaths before Gia let out a little gasp, then immediately coughed, vomiting up the water she'd swallowed. "That's my girl, just get it all out, sweetheart," Gloria encouraged. I sagged down to sit back on my feet and drew in my own relieved gasp.

"Mama!" Gia screamed, crying more when she tried to move, probably from her cracked ribs.

"Don't move, baby, don't move, Mama's right here, and Nana's here, and Gammy called the nice paramedics who will be here to help you soon," Giselle said, through her own tears as she petted Gia's hair. "Just don't move so they can help you when they get here."

"They're just pulling into the drive now," Gladys called. "I'm going to bring them through the house."

I scooted back, now that I wasn't needed, just to make more room for Giselle by her baby. But that just drew Gloria's attention back to me. "You saved my baby girl," she said softly, hand on my arm. "And you didn't even hesitate. Thank you, with everything that I am, thank you."

I waved it off. "I just did what-"

But Giselle's arms around me stopped my protest in my throat. "You absolutely did not do what anyone would have done," she said, from where her face was buried in my throat. "You saved my baby. Thank you."

"I'm just glad I was here to help."

"Just through here, on the other side of the pool," Gladys said from inside the house, pulling all our attention toward… some very familiar faces.

"Carmen?" Hen screeched, but somehow managed to only pause the slightest bit while hurrying toward us, kit in hand. Chim full-on stumbled. Bobby made a worried face at me, but relaxed when I shook my head to let him know I was okay. And Buck and Eddie just looked confused, like adorable puppies.

"Oh, I'm so glad it's you guys," I said as I stood up. I wanted to get out of the way so that they could get to Gia. "These are my family I was just telling you about. They'll take good care of you, Gia, I promise."

The team joined us, and Gloria quickly filled Hen, Chim, and Bobby in on what had happened. And Eddie and Buck came to Giselle's side. "Can we help you up, ma'am?" Buck asked kindly, hand already out to her.

"You'd think I'm having twins with how big I already am," she replied exasperatedly, clearly compartmentalizing now that everything was handled and she needed to be calm for Gia. But she allowed the two of them to basically lift her to her feet again, then squeezed my hand one more time. "Thank you," she whispered to me.

"Let's get these roller skates off you, little miss," Hen was saying to Gia, who they had on the gurney nearly ready to go. "I think it'll make things easier for you if we do."

Gia started crying again, not that she really had ever stopped, but allowed Hen and Bobby to take one foot each. "I never wanna roller skate again!"

"And that's just fine, pumpkin. You never have to if you don't want to," Gladys said calmly. "We can give all your roller skates to someone else if you don't want them anymore."

There was an actual lip quiver. "But won't Daddy be so sad if I do?" Gia asked, voice quieter than I'd heard it all day.

Giselle was at her side in an instant, taking her tiny little hand in her own. "No, baby, Daddy won't be sad if you don't want to skate anymore. He'll understand."

Chim stood up as he zipped his kit back up. "Are you ready to go in an ambulance, Miss Gia?"

"Are you gonna do the sirens?"

"Absolutely! And your mommy can come, too. Do you think your mommy would like the sirens?"

Giselle nodded her head overly dramatically, making Gia giggle. "Yeah, I think so. We can go with the sirens."

"Which hospital are you taking her to?" Gladys asked as she handed Giselle her phone.

"Children's Hospital. They'll take really good care of you all there," Bobby answered.

"We'll be right behind you, and we'll tell David," Gloria assured Giselle, who accepted her hug and followed after her daughter on the gurney.

"You good, sweetheart?" Bobby asked me, even as he was already starting to follow them.

"I'm good, no worries!"

"She jumped in after Gia, no hesitation whatsoever," Gladys said, looking at me with so much gratitude in her eyes that it made me blush.

"That's my step-stepsister," Buck said cheerfully with a little squeeze to my arm before he and Eddie followed after. "Tell us about it later!"

"Carmen saves the day again," Eddie added with a grin over his shoulder at me.

"I have to say, I'm a little bit more at ease knowing it's your family taking Gia," Gloria told me. "If they're anything like you, I'm glad they're the ones keeping my girl safe."

Gladys joined us, a big beach towel in her hands. "I agree. They seem like just the people we want with our baby. Now, let's get you dried off."

I started to protest, but she wouldn't hear of it. "That's just nonsense, dear. There's no reason for you to drip all over your car. I'm so sorry, but we'll have to cut our interview short, I hope you'll understand."

Wordlessly, I took the towel as I stared at her. It wasn't until I quickly ran the towel over my hair that I could even formulate a response. "No, absolutely! No, you need to go be with Gia and Giselle, absolutely! Don't even worry about me, we can reschedule for later if you need to, and I'm happy to make whatever work. You just go be with your family and don't even worry about me."

"You are sweet," she told me, patting my cheek.

I hurriedly toweled off enough that I wasn't sloshy, and then I hurried out through the house as quickly as I could without seeming rude. "I really do hope Gia's okay," I told Gladys, picking up my shoes from the door, but not bothering to put them on. I mean, I already looked like a drowned rat, so it was just silly to put the shoes on at that point.

She smiled at me, eyes rather watery. "Thanks to you and your quick thinking, I'm really sure that she will be. Thank you, dear."

Once on the road, I called Cheryl through my Bluetooth, incredibly glad I'd left my phone in the car since I hadn't wanted the distractions. "How'd it go?" she asked as soon as she picked up.

"Pretty well, I think," I answered, going around a big truck that was going at least ten miles under the speed limit. "At least until we had to call 9-1-1."

"Call 9- I'm sorry, what happened?" my usually calm and collected boss actually squeaked. I couldn't hold back the grin that popped out at that.

I explained what happened, then said, "I could come back to the office, but I'm still soaked and according to my GPS, I'm still an hour away, so it would be almost four before I get there. Do you want me to come back?"

"No, you're good. Go home, and then come to my office first thing tomorrow to talk next steps. But you feel like it went well before the pool incident?"

"Yeah, I really do," I said, releasing the breath that I felt like I'd been holding since I got the call from Sage to schedule this meeting. "I feel like they liked me as a person before their kid fell into the pool, so hopefully I have a good chance at this whole thing."

By the time I got home (with my hair reaching huge proportions due to the humidity), I had lots of texts waiting for me. Apparently, Hen created a new group chat, with the sole purpose of roasting me.

Hen: Carmen, are you trying to catch up to us on the number of saving people?

Hen: Cuz it looks a bit sus at this point.

Buck: haha, looks like Denny is running off on his mom!

Buck: *rubbing

Buck: but srs, Car, you're awesome and I love you!

Unknown Texas number: Yeah, that was pretty badass! Gia couldn't stop saying how cool you are the entire drive to the hospital.

Unknown Texas number: I mean, not quite as badass as smashing a guy's face in with a frying pan, but still pretty badass.

Unknown California number: And it looks like Gia's going to be just fine, so don't worry about her!

Me: You're all idiots, and I love you. Thanks for the update!

I was still laughing a bit as I saved Chim and Eddie's numbers. And then I sat down and composed a thank you letter to send to Gladys through Sage. Since she was the only one whose email address I had.

AN: Again, I don't really know much about legal or medical stuff, so we're going to pretend that it makes sense for someone to go from the DA's office and then go into family and corporate law. I mean, if it works for Suits, it can work for me, right? Anyway, thanks for reading, and a big thanks to Riordanlover16 and Angel JJK for your reviews. And Riordanlover16, I hope this satisfies some of your longing for some Carmen backstory!