Fire Chief's Lost Baby

Chapter Five

When Isla woke and stretched the next morning, she noticed three things almost immediately. The first was the sharp, throbbing pain in her ankle. The second was that she was in the bed again, when she didn't remember climbing back in herself. The third was a distinct lack of noise from the bassinet right next to her. The last thought overtook her mind and crowded out any other realizations.

Isla rolled over so quickly that she tangled her legs in the covers and had to fight madly with one foot and an arm to free herself before peering into the baby bed. Ethan was no longer in the bed and the swaddle blanket Anne-Marie had found from Reid's baby things was left in a crumple in the little cot.

Isla's heart pounded erratically as she fumbled for the crutches next to the bed, knocking them from their rest against the nightstand and crashing to the floor. Isla followed by turning onto her stomach and sliding down to perch on her good foot, then continued down to kneeling on the floor.

The door to the bedroom slammed open and Isla shrieked, losing her already precarious balance and falling into the side of the bassinet. The baby furniture in turn fell to the ground, creating a tremendous racket. A baby's wail from across the house soon followed.

Reid stood in the doorway to the bedroom, shaggy hair flopping in his wild eyes as he stared at Isla. "What happened?"

Isla threw an arm over the sideways bassinet and tried to haul herself upright. "Where's Ethan? Why isn't he in his bed? What happened to him?" Isla's voice rose higher in pitch as she began to panic.

Reid crossed the room in two steps and raised the bassinet while grabbing Isla under the arm and pulling her up at the same time. "He's with my mom. Are you ok? Did you hurt your foot again?" Reid tried to guide Isla back to sit on the edge of the bed, but Isla kept trying to look over his shoulder for Ethan.

"I'm fine, just fine! I was trying to reach the crutches. If you would just hand them to me, I could go get Ethan!"

Reid stopped trying to usher Isla gently and knelt in front of her so he could look her straight in the eye. "My mom has him, Isla. He is perfectly alright. She heard him starting to fuss earlier and got him so you could rest some more. She's already given him a bottle and now she's rocking with him in the other room. I'll take you out to him as soon as I make sure your foot is ok. Now, did you hurt your foot again?"

Reid looked at Isla so intently that she almost felt like a scolded child. She was about to protest again when her ankle started throbbing again. "Alright, it hurts a little. I think I accidentally put some weight on it when I fell."

Reid nodded, examining her ankle and rewrapping it. "We need to ice it again this morning. Let me help you out to the kitchen and I can get you a bag of ice and some breakfast while you and Ethan rest."

Isla wanted to argue again, but Reid had been so patient and calm when she was obviously upset. It wouldn't hurt to have breakfast before she figured out how to get out of here. She sighed, "Ok, ok, let's go."

Only a few minutes later, Isla was settled at a large oak dining table, foot propped on a cushioned chair, ice bag wrapped to her ankle with another fabric bandage. A moment ago, Reid had set a plate of steaming food in front of her and Isla's eyes nearly popped out of her head. Sizzling bacon, eggs, fresh fruit, and best of all, hot coffee. Isla hadn't seen that much food at one time in some time and best of all, she hadn't had to prepare any of it.

Isla didn't waste much time admiring the full plate of food before digging in. In fact, she was so interested in filling her face that she missed when Anne-Marie entered the room with Ethan cradled in her arm.

Reid stood and met Anne-Marie in the doorway, speaking to her in a hushed voice. Isla didn't pay any attention to what they were saying until she caught her name in the conversation and tuned in while she wolfed down the food in front of her.