Empty Spaces

Strawberries Sunday

Upon waking, the first thing Sylvie noticed was the smell of Casey surrounding her, bringing a brief sense of calmness to her. The next thing she felt was tiny fingers tracing up and down her cheek, past her ear and then playing with her hair. It took her a moment to remember what had happened in the previous hours, and that although she wished one day it would be Casey running his hand through her hair in this case, it was in fact Bella. Yet, she wasn't even disappointed at the realisation.

When Sylvie opened her eyes, she saw Bella's staring back at her, a grin on the little girls face which she happily reciprocated. "Hi Princess, did you have a good sleep?" Sylvie asked quietly, her own hand coming up to brush away the little girls hair. She couldn't help but think of what may have happened to Bella, she made it a note in the back of her head to bring up the subject later when they were alone.

"Uh-huh." Bella nodded as she sat up, her eyes wandered over to Casey's who was still sitting at his desk doing paperwork. She opened her mouth and yawned, causing the man to turn around in his chair. "Hi Matt."

Matt Casey had not wanted to disturb their moment before but seeing as he knew now that they were awake and remembered he was here, he figured it was okay. "Hi girls, was that a nice nap?" He asked, looking between them both. He looked at Sylvie and smiled as she nodded, she was beautiful, especially when she first woke up.

"How long were we asleep for?" Sylvie asked, raising her arms above her head to stretch before she sat up. She brought her hands up to her face to wipe away the sleep before her hand came down and rubbed the small girls back.

"Almost an hour, not too long. Ridder texted ten minutes ago and said dinner would be ready in an hour or so." Casey said, he sat there for a minute longer watching the two before he stood up. He opened one of the draws in his desk and pulled out a Dalmatian dog plush that he was given at one of the first fighter seminars he had been to. He walked over and sat on the end of the bed, holding it out to Bella with a small smile. "Here, for you."

They both watched the light in Bella's eyes when she saw the plush, it was like someone had flicked a switch. Her smile grew and she jumped up, wrapping her arms around Matts neck and hugging him tightly. "Thank you, Matt." Bella whispered softly. Although it was such a small gesture it meant the world to the little girl. It brought tears to both Matt and Sylvie's eyes.

After releasing Matt from her bone crushing hug, she took the plush and hugged him to her chest, a small smile still on her lips. "What's his name?" She asked, her brown eyes looking up into Matt's blue ones.

"Why don't you name him?" Matt stated, shrugging his shoulders a little. "We have a firehouse dog here named Tuesday."

"Tuesday? That's silly." Bella giggled, looking back down at the plush and then looking behind her at Sylvie. "Maybe I name him Sunday?"

Sylvie laughed softly and nodded her head, looking from Bella to Matt and then back again. "That sounds perfect."

"Sylvie...." Bella frowned slightly before turning around away from Matt and crawled a few inches closer to Sylvie, bringing her hand up to cup her ear before whispering 'potty' into it.

"C'mon then. Bathroom is this way." Sylvie stood up out of the bed, watching as Matt stood too and went back over to his desk. She reached her arms out and helped Bella off the bed, who wasn't letting go of her new toy. "We'll be back later Matt; I think I'm going to try get her out of these dirty clothes."

And with that they left again, hand in hand and off towards the bathroom. Joined by Stella who had just stepped out of the bunks.

The three girls entered the bathroom which held all the shifts lockers, as well as multiple showers and toilets. Sylvie showed Bella to the toilets, figuring the girl could go by herself before she walked a small distance away and back over to Stella.