Still Burning

15- The verdict

Firehouse 87 sat with tensed muscles, their back straight and head held high. Esposito sat with his team in a single row, just behind Nathan and his team. The jury were sat, relaxed in two rows, one row higher than the next.

Jess shook her leg nervously. She was about to start biting her fingers but Carr held onto them. He slowly lifted them to his lips and gave it a soft kiss. Without looking at her, he brought their hands down, still holding onto it.

The last juror stood up, pushing her hair back and then placing the paper down on the awaiting hand. Nathan squeezed Andy's hand a little tighter as the judge read over it. He nodded his head before passing it back to the jury. The lady cleared her throat before speaking.

"We the jury, find Aubrey Satbar, on the charge of first degree murder of Alexia Barton, Louise Canis, Joshua Barrot, Melinda Derby..." Nathan leaned in closer as he listened to all the names being called out. His right hand still held tightly onto Andy's. "Matthew Christopher Parker, and Ricky Browne..." Everyone was leaned forward in their seats. This is all they had been waiting for, wanting to see the people who caused so many innocent lives to end get what they deserve. "...guilty."

Nathan exhaled sharply. He felt his heart beat hard against his chest as Andy leaned in to kiss his cheek. "You guys did it."

* * *

"Woah! Let's open this fucking baby up!" Carr screamed as he entered the bar that was connected to the cafe. Andy owned both as the firefighters and doctors loved having a drink after their shifts. 

"I would have loved to get drunk right now," she said with a frown. Nathan chuckled, burying his head into her neck. "Stop, it tickles."

"Lemonade for you? Or iced tea?"

"Iced tea. Make sure Penny doesn't put any alcohol in it because-"

"Got it." Nathan walked up to the bar, Andy closely behind him. "Penny!" Penny walked over, smiling. He leaned over the bar and kissed her cheek. "Can I get an iced tea please? No drop of alcohol."

"Hey sweety. No drop?"

"Zilch."

"You're no fun." Nathan leaned down to look at Andy who was smiling at the boys. They had opened a bottle of champagne and were now serving it in glasses. "Andy, love, would you like a drink?"

"No thanks, Penny. The iced tea is for me."

Nathan placed his arms over Andy's shoulder. He kissed the top of her head just as she turned around in her chair. "We'll have a few drinks and then I'll take you home, okay?" She pulled his tie down again and kissed him. "I take that as a yes."

"You better take that as a yes. And you'll be hearing a lot of yes tonight," she said as her hands ran over his chest. She heard him groan before he pulled her in for another kiss. "We can always go now-"

"Hey guys, we're gonna go to the cafe. Carr said he has a speech planned," Mo said holding his glass of coke. "Come on."

"Maybe not," Nathan said with a chuckle. He kissed the top of her head with a small smile. "I love you."

* * *

Carr stood up, holding his cup of coffee. He was hoping to get a little bit of alcohol in him tonight but he did promise to take Jessica home. He looked down at the empty plates and sighed.

"I want to make a toast!" Everyone looked up at him. Nathan chuckled as he leaned back in his seat, pulling an arm around Andy's waist. "I want to thank everyone who has stood by us, the partners, parents, friends, siblings...you really have no idea how much you mean to us."

"You big softie!" Asher yelled with a chuckle.

"You could say that, Ash. But really, especially with this court case and all the stress everyone has put on us, even the struggle of normal work life, you stand by us, be our rock and we will always be grateful. Please forgive us for all the times we pushed you away, screamed at you or just didn't say anything. Majority of the time, we don't get called out to fires, believe it or not, it's mainly RTCs or something like that. We get called and we see people who just scrape through life. They trust us with their lives and we have to do what we can to get them out and sometimes we don't succeed." Carr looked over at Andy.

"There is one person who I'd like to thank. She isn't a firefighter but believe me when I say she is the heart of firehouse 87. She has not only made our lieutenant very happy, she has made such a great effort to get to know us. She went out of her way to be friends with us and we love her, we really do. She was a person we turned to when times got rough, we were able to talk to her and even knowing she was there was good enough. She comes in like almost every morning when we are on shift, cooks us breakfast, spends some time with us, has a laugh- damn, she even opened up her cafe twenty-four seven just so we can come here and drink our sorrows away." Andy giggled as she leaned into Nathan's chest.

"To the happy couple, Nathan and Andy, you guys are my inspiration. I see how in love you are with each other and I really hope I can get a woman that looks at me the way Andy looks at Nathan. They deserve to be happy. So to the happy couple and the baby!"

"Let's toast to that," Nathan said before drinking the rest of his lemonade. He kissed the top of Andy's head. "You're the best thing that ever happened to me," he whispered.

"Maybe we can stay a little longer?" Andy turned around, placing a hand on his cheek. "You're the best thing that happened to me."

Nathan leaned down with a smile. "Are you just copying me?" She shook her head with a laugh before closing the distance between them. "I love you."

"I love you too."

Alright! So the next few chapters will be about the other members of firehouse 87 just because I want to show how each firefighter is different. Also, I'm thinking of doing a spin off to this so I was sort of playing around with it and seeing which characters you would like most.

Hope you enjoyed that! I'll see you guys on Tuesday 😊