Station 126

11 : Family

I'm cleaning the Ladder truck when a woman, a man, and a baby walk into the station. Jumping down from the truck, I walk up to them. The woman, she looks so familiar.

"Hi, how can I help you?" I ask the woman.

"Uh, hi, I'm looking for Blake."

"Blake Wilson?" I ask.

"Uh, yeah."

I look closer at the woman.

"Wait, you're Maddie, aren't you?" I ask.

The woman looks at me, shocked.

"You know who I am?" she asks.

"Yeah, you're Blake's older sister, Maddie."

"Yeah, yeah, I am." she says. "You are...?"

So he hasn't told Maddie about me. I mentally take note.

"Lia." I introduce myself.

"Hi."

"Yeah, Blake told me so much about you guys." I turn to the man. "You must be her husband, Kevin?"

"Yeah."

I hold my hand out to each one and they shake it.

I look at the baby.

"And who is this young lady?" I ask.

"This is Iris." Maddie says, bouncing Iris up slightly.

"Hi!" I coo.

"Hi." Iris responds.

"Aww." I say. I turn to Kevin and Maddie. "Uh, what are you guys doing here?" I ask.

"Is Blake around?" Maddie asks, shifting her baby a bit higher on her hip.

"Yeah, he-uh-he's in Cap's office." I say, gesturing upstairs.

"Oh my god, what did he do now?" Maddie asks, worried.

"Oh, no, he's not in trouble or anything. Cap likes doing routine checks on us every month. You know, to see how we're doing."

"Oh, that's nice."
"Yeah. He'll be right down." I say.

Maddie smiles and nods.

"This is a nice house you've got here." Kevin says.

"Thanks-" I start, but TK walks up behind me.

"My Dad renovated it when the original team had died twenty five years ago." TK says.

"Oh." Kevin says.

"Hi, TK Strand, Paramedic Captain." TK holds his hand out.

"Kevin Lee, medic, LAFD."

"Nice to meet you."

They shake hands.

"Maddie Lee."

Another shake of the hands.

Maddie looks between me and TK.

"Are you two...married?" she asks, pointing to our nametags.

I look down at my nametag, then at TK, and realize why she would think that.

"Wha-no, no, we-uh-we're siblings."

"Siblings?" Maddie asks, shocked.

"Yeah, half-siblings."

"Oh."

I just nod, putting my hands into my pant pockets. Just then, Blake walks out of Cap's office.

"Hey Lia." he says to me from the balcony. I turn around. "Who's there?"