The Daughter Of The Fallen Firefighter

Firehouse 51

As Boden pulls up to his parking spot on the apron Chloe turns to me.
"Are you ready for this?" she asks sweetly.
I nod which she returns as a nod too.
"Let's go then."
I un buckle my belt with shaky hands and grab my backpack up off the floor.The alarm isn't ringing here and there like normal.I brush it off and walk through the doors.Everybody was sat in the common room;not a word being said.

I scan the room and find Joe lingering at the back.Without thinking I walk straight over to him and we embrace in a warm, loving hug.
"I'm sorry Vik,"he whispers in my ear," I should have done something to save him."
"There's nothing you could have done Joe.Thank you for being there with him in the hospital.Dad would have appreciated that."
We release from the hug and I put my bag down on an empty chair around the table. I can feel the comments coming.I had the same thing with my Mum's Co-workers 7 years ago.

"Listen, I don't want you all to pity me. Yeah my dad's dead. What can any of you do about it?" tears are falling down my face again and I run off to the locker room. I twist and turn at my Dad's locker combination before I crack the code. I open the door as softly as possible. My heart hurts as I see everything of my Dad's. All just sat there, never to be touched again. One by one I pick up the trinkets. The little rock I gave him when I was 5, still in the same top left corner as always. The small things like that. Even now there were still the paintings from when I was younger. All titled with, 'my favourite person, Dad'

"Hey girl"
I look up to see Darren Ritter walking into the locker room. Ritter and I get along pretty well, they call us Fred and George because we, incidentally, create a lot of mischief.
"How are you?" he asked.
I shrug,"I don't know what I'm expected to do. He was the only person I had and now. Now who do I have?"
"You have us,the firehouse.We are always going to be here for you.We always, always, stand by our friends and family. Even our friends' family."
That made me chuckle because he shakes me as he says the last bit.
"Just know, you can come to any of us for anything. We're your family. We'll always make sure of that."

I turn to him on the bench and give him a hug.Weirdly, it seems to sooth me. Just like my dad's hugs would.
"Thanks Ritter."
He nods, "What are we looking at?"
"He kept it all.Every single drawing and letter I had to write at school. Even the pet rock I gave him when I was like, what, 4."
"Now that is commitment."
"He taught me so much. He taught me how to speak Russian, how to ride a bike. How to do literally everything. The only thing he didn't was how to cope without him."
"I think that's why he left you Joe and Chloe and everyone here."
I think about that and nod, "He really liked you guys.I'd hear so many stories of the crazy things that happened here on shift. They always ended up being hilarious."
He laughs, "We do get up to a lot of crazy things around here. How about we go get a glass of water, I also think Casey wants to talk to you."
I stand up and close the door to the locker. "Let's go then."