𝐈 𝐁𝐞𝐭 𝐎𝐧 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐨𝐠𝐬 - 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐠𝐨 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐞

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐅𝐨𝐮𝐫

The day of the BBQ had finally arrived, Katrina pulled into the parking lot of the park, looking over at the large area that held a large group of people all hanging around, adults talking and drinking beer while the kids all ran around either playing tag, hide and seek or soccer. It was a bittersweet day today for Kat, because it was her first fireman BBQ without her big brother, her first BBQ without Andy.

The first BBQ where there will be no one to tell her colleagues embarrassing stories from her childhood.

The blonde woman looked over at Ash, who was staring out of the window at the kids he always looked forward to spending time with whenever the BBQ rolled around, but instead of excitement, his brown doe-eyes held sadness and Katrina immediately knew why, this was his first BBQ without his favorite uncle.

"Bear," Katrina said softly, gently brushing her son's hair out of his face. "I know how hard this is, if you don't feel like you're up to hangout with Colin and Morgan you can just hang around me and the guys, k?"

Ash didn't say anything, he just nodded and got out of the car. Katrina sighed, she knew that it was very much like Ash to shut down whenever he was reminded of his grief for his uncle, he missed Andy just as much as his mama did. Kat sat there for a moment before she herself climbed out, putting a smile on her face as she walked into the park with her son, her green eyes scanning the area until she found the table where her work friends were at.

She walked over with Ash following her.

"Hey, boys," she greeted, setting her bag down as she gave them a smile. The guys smiled at her, some nodding at her as they took a swig of their beers.

"You look good, Kat," Otis said before his gaze went onto Ash and gave the kid a smile. "Hey there, kiddo, cool shark t-shirt." Otis held out his hand to give the boy a high-five, noticing the gloomy mood that tied the child down.

That was when a sunshine-like smile appeared on Ash's face as he high-fived Otis. If there was one other person that could never ever fail to put a smile on little Ash's face, it was Otis. This little interaction seemed to put the 10-year-old in a better mood, because in an instant, the kid's real personality seemed to shine through as he looked over at Colin and Morgan, running over to them to join in their game of soccer.

Katrina smiled slightly, relief flooding her body as she watched her baby make his way over to his friends, she was happy that his friends still included him in stuff even in his grief over Andy, it was honestly so refreshing for the young mother to see. The blonde's grin only turned into laughter when Mills walked over in full uniform, the ones the firehouse would wear at funerals or special ceremonies, someone had tricked him into thinking that this was a formal event, just another thing the firehouse did when messing with new additions.

"When's the parade, candidate?," Otis asked, laughing as he handed Kat a beer.

"That's a good one," Mills retorted, flustered and slightly embarrassed at the revelation of the fact that everyone was in their normal clothes. Even Ash, who was watching this from afar, was giggling heavily.

"You taking donations for the salvation army?," Katrina laughed, sitting down next to Otis, earning a few more laughs as a younger woman came up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, are you a captain?," the woman asked. Katrina saw the opportunity and took it, quickly standing up as she spoke up.

"Actually, he's the commissioner, miss," Kat lied, cutting off Mills as he tried to deny the lie. "He's the youngest one in the history of Chicago." Kat then looked at the younger man. "Why don't you show her to the beer cooler, commissioner?"

Mills seemed to finally pick up on the fact that Kat was trying to set him up with this girl and he smiled, nodding as he led the younger woman away, conversing with her and even earning some laughs from her.

"Wow," Herrman said as he gave Kat a look, and she gladly returned it.

"What?," she asked, a hint of warning in her tone, she was speaking like how she would speak to Ash if he was in trouble. It was that mom tone that everyone was scared shitless of, no matter how old they got.

"So you're his wingwoman now?," Cruz asked, not getting the hint to shut up until Kat gave him the look, causing him to back down.

"Let the man have a break, we've all had our fun but no need to embarrass him in front of a girl that's showing interest, I'm mean, not a monster," Kat spoke, noticing Gabby sitting with Casey, Shay and a few other people, she looked at her friends before back to the other table before she decided to walk over after she grabbed some food, one plate for herself and another for Ash, she would be able to get a better view of Ash at the other table anyway.

"Mind if I sit?," Kat asked as she gestured to the empty spot between Casey and Gabby. Everyone nodded, ad libbing all kinds of 'yeah sure' and 'of course.'

"This is Corrine," Shay introduced, "She just moved here from..."

"Alabama," Corrine spoke, her accent was clear and she had a sweet smile on her face as she took a swig of her beer bottle.

"Nice to meet you," Katrina said, smiling and nodding at her as she drank some more of her beer and taking a bite of the burger.

"So, I think I saw the result of some of your work yesterday," Hallie said, looking over at Shay and Gabby. Kat glanced at the two paramedics with a curious glint in her eyes, wondering what the surgeon was hinting at this time.

"Yeah, Dawson got her ass squeezed by by a drunken Englishman," Shay said, snorting slightly at the memory of Gabby bedazzling the drunk bloke.

"You've gotta quit flirting with your patients," Casey chimed, drinking his beer as Ash walked over, squeezing in next to his mom as he began to scoff down his food, he sat there quietly as he ate. Kat could tell his social battery was running low already and she gave him a worried look, hugging him from the side as she planted a kiss on top of his head.

"So we pretty them up a little," Gabby replied, putting some of her food back onto the plate.

"Not something you learn in med-school, I take it?," Corrine asked, still keeping that sweet smile on her face as Ash glanced up, not understanding what was going on.

"We're paramedics, so we don't go to fancy med school," Shay explained before she looked at Gabby. "Although..."

And now everyone was looking at Gabby in confusion, anticipating an answer from her as she looked back at them, seeming to be caught off guard by all of the sudden staring.

"I've been taking some pre-med classes," Gabby finally admitted and Katrina's eyes widened, she had never known about this.

"Really? That's awesome," Katrina said, giving Gabby a smile which she returned, causing Kat's heart to flutter.

She loved that smile.

"It's a long way off, though," Gabby continued, shaking her head a bit. Katrina's eyes landed on Heather, her sister-in-law and felt a pang in her heart, she knew it was hard for her and her kids to be here too. She stood up again and walked over, Ash trailing behind her. The two women hugged briefly as Casey walked over, also hugging Heather.

"You okay?," Kat asked, glancing at Griffin and Ben, her nephews, the little boys that her big brother left behind when he died. Ash slowly walked over to his cousins, he didn't say anything to them, just stood by them, silently being there for them and keeping them company as they all watched the kids play.

"It's just – it's hard on Ben and Griffin," Heather sighed, also now looking at the boys. "They're afraid that Ash is the only one who's gonna treat them the same, they don't want the other kids to treat them any differently."

Casey thought for a moment before an idea popped into his head and he crept up towards the three boys, grabbing Ash and picking him up like a sack of potatoes, the boy was caught of guard before he began to giggle, his cousins watched as they laughed, following Casey to the crowd of kids that were all holding a football, clearly Ash was happy and energetic once again after he had his food break.