Take on the World

8.

There's times in life where days seem perfect, sometimes too perfect. That's what it felt like when Andy woke up that morning, too perfect. She had slept soundly without being in Robert's arms for the first time since the accident, that was the first thing that tipped her off. Next, it was the sitting up in the lounge for almost an hour, drinking her morning coffee, with no interruptions. When the team finally did come up for breakfast, it was calm and peaceful, no one really talked too much, just little banter between them here and there.

Andy knew it was too good to be true when the alarm went off. It was like time stopped and her whole world fell apart.

"Isn't that," Vic commented, looking over to Andy, who was in complete shock. "Luna's school?"

No one said anything, but they watched as Andy shot straight up out of her seat and ran out of the beanery. They followed behind her, watching as she practically ran down the stairs two at a time, she would've fell if Robert wouldn't have been at the bottom to catch her, holding onto her waist to steady her.

"You're already spiraling," He said quietly. "Stay calm, it'll all be okay."

She didn't answer, instead she ran off into the barn, of course everyone else followed. It took them half the time it normally did to leave the station, mainly because they were certain that if they didn't pick up the pace that Andy would surely leave the station without them.

The few block drive to Luna's pre-school was silent, you could cut the tension with a knife. Andy was driving the engine while Robert sat passenger, Vic and Travis in the back, no one dared to say anything. Andy had told them all about Robert and how they'd met, the team's reaction wasn't anything other than what she expected, they were surprised but they didn't act out of character. They knew it was going to be a difficult call, especially when the daughter of two of the firefighters would be at the scene.

As they pulled into the lot, Robert could already see Andy scanning over the small group of kids. The school wasn't that big, it was quite small actually. Considering it was a daycare center that also had a pre-school, there weren't too many people that were in the building, a couple teachers, maybe fifty kids all together.

And out of those fifty kids, Andy couldn't see Luna...

There had been hundreds, probably thousands of calls that Andy had been on since she started fighting fires. Of course she didn't remember every single one of them, there were simply just too many to remember, but like always, there were some that stuck out and she remembered every last detail of the call. This was going to be one of them, because she knew she'd never forget the feeling of looking over that group of kids and not seeing her daughter.

Robert had been doing this job a lot longer than she had, but he had never let himself get emotionally invested, except for the call with his late wife. This one was different, he was going to let his emotions get in the way of doing his job, there was no possible way he couldn't.

"Ms. Herrera!" It was Luna's teacher calling her name that finally brought Andy back to reality, she ran right over to the older, dark haired woman the second she heard her name being called. "I'm so sorry, Luna was in the bathroom and I couldn't get to her in time."

"Is there any other kids that aren't accounted for?" Andy asked, trying to ignore how fast her heart was beating and how badly she just wanted to run inside to find Luna and get her out.

"No, she's the only one who isn't."

That was the only thing Andy needed to hear before running over to the building, not even caring that she didn't have a mask or oxygen tank, all she wanted to do was get her daughter out of that building.

She would've made it inside too, if Robert hadn't caught her, wrapping his arms tightly around her waist, pulling her back. She tried to fight her way out of his grasp but he was bigger, and much stronger than she was.

"Hey, hey..." He said calmly, trying to grab her attention, she needed to be grounded, he knew she wasn't in the right state of mind right now. "Look at me," He turned her around and took her face in his hands gently, forcing her to look at him. "I'll go in, I'll take Montgomery and Hughes with me, okay?"

She couldn't say anything, just nod. He left her standing there, but before he got too far away from her, she stopped him...

"Robert wait!"

It was weird, and completely unprofessional, but she found herself running up to him, stopping right when she got in front of him. She looked up at him for a second before leaning up on her tiptoes, gently pressing her lips against his. He kissed her back almost instantly, his hands going to rest on her waist.

"Be careful, please." She whispered after pulling away, this time he was the one to silently nod.

When he walked away this time, she didn't stop him, she just watched as he walked inside the building, Travis and Vic following closely behind him. Everyone had saw the interaction between the two, even though they were stunned, they pushed that aside and stood with Andy, all watching the door in anticipation for their captain to come walking back out that door, Luna in his arms.

Inside, they could barely see five feet in front of them. They had no idea where the fire started and where exactly it had spread to, but they knew they needed to find the little girl, who was probably hiding, which wouldn't make their job any easier.

They called out her name several times, no answer. Checked countless different rooms, didn't find her...

"Captain, I don't think she's in here," Travis had said at one point. "Did Pruitt even drop her off this morning?"

"Montgomery, enough!" Robert snapped back, causing both Travis and Vic to flinch at his sudden harsh tone. "She's in here, keep looking."

After looking for a little longer, they heard the distant sound of coughing. The followed that sound into a back room, no where near a bathroom. Travis and Vic didn't say anything, they let Robert do what he had set out to do the second he stepped foot in that building.

Robert called out Luna's name one last time and he finally got an answer back.

"Daddy?"

Ignoring how his heart jumped at her calling him that for the first time, he opened the closet door and saw the little girl curled up in the corner.

The second she saw him, she jumped up and flung her arms around his neck. He could hear her crying into his shoulder, and he forgot all about the fire that was quickly spreading through the building, all he wanted to do was hold his daughter.

"I tried to leave but I couldn't find the door," She explained, fear evident in her voice. "I'm sorry daddy, I tried, I really did."

"Shh, hey, you're okay now. I've got you,"

"Captain, we really need to get out of here!" Vic called out, that's when Robert heard it, the creaking in the ceiling and walls.

Wherever the fire was, it was weakening the structural integrity of the building. It was going to collapse at any minute now...

And they were still inside.

A/N:
should i be mean and leave you all with a cliffhanger for the next week, or should i be nice and double update today? anyways, thank you so much for all the love on this, even if it's not the best. i truly appreciate you all so much🥺