The Fighter

Chapter 9

Gavin and I were in the living room with our grandparents, uncle, aunt, and their three daughters after Avery left. "Hey, Gavin. Want to go for a ride?" I asked quietly. "Yes! These kids are driving me crazy." He nodded. "We'll be back." I got up and he followed. I grabbed my gear and we got into my truck and I drove off. I was planning on taking him around the district. "I love our family, but there are a lot of kids." "Yeah, I know. Avery is an angel compared to Paul's kids. She's not bad at all." "Yeah, she's a really good kid. You're doing a great job Mickie." "Thanks Gav." I smiled. "This is where the accident was last night." I showed him the corner where the girl hit the pole. "The one with the girl who got lucky?" "Yeah, she was very lucky!" I sighed. "Gavin, have you decided what you want to do with college and everything?" I was thinking about it. "Yeah, I'm going to finish out this semester and come back home. Once, I get back down here I'm going to try and get into the police academy and be a police officer." "Sounds like a good plan. Better than the last one that you had." I smiled. "Thanks, I like it a lot better than the last one. What are your plans?" he asked. "I have a little one. I'm planning on finishing college next year, then I'm going to get a job and find a place hopefully around here for Avery and I." "That sounds like a good plan. What are you going to do when you get called out?" "It'll just be Avery and I, so I don't think I'd go as much."

"Do you ever think about finding someone and settling down? Getting married and stuff?" Gavin asked, he sounded like he had been thinking about this for a while. "Not really. I mean that I have every once in a while, but I'm not interested in dating or anything right now." I shrugged. I really didn't know if I wanted any of that. "I have thought about it a little bit, but I don't really have that interest right now either." "What is wrong with us? You're 20. I'm 18, and we have no interest in finding a significant other at all? We would just rather be by ourselves." We were not normal at all. "I think about that all the time. Like why don't I want to find a nice girl and settle down? I think it's because of us seeing what happened to Dad after mom died." "Me too, I'm afraid of getting attached to someone else and then having them leave." "Yeah, that's how I am. But you seem like you are pretty attached to Kyle." "He's different. He's not going to leave he's been left so many times too. I think that's where we bonded." "Oh, okay. Because you're not in love with him or anything." Gavin rolled his eyes. "I'm not! I was shocked when you said that you wanted to find a nice GIRL to settle down with. I could've sworn you went the other way." "What?!" he laughed. He wasn't expecting that.

We pulled into the fire house parking lot right on time. Avery was calling me. "Hello?" I answered. "Hi! We're getting ready for bed." She sounded liked she was in a good mood. "Okay, did you brush your teeth?" "Yes, I did!" "Okay, are you having fun?" "Yes!" "Good! Do you want to talk to Gavin and say goodnight to him before we say goodnight?" I looked at Gavin. He smiled. "Yeah, I want to talk to him!" she answered. "Okay, here he is." I handed the phone to Gavin. "Hi Avvy! Are you having fun? Good! ......Yes, I will still be at Grandmas when you get home tomorrow. Okay, Goodnight I love you." He handed me the phone back. "Okay kid are you ready?" I asked. "Yeah, goodnight Mickie." "Goodnight Avery. Have Siren give you a kiss for me." "He did, have Maxx give you a kiss for me." "He will. I love you sweet dreams." "Sweet dreams, I love you more." "I love you most. I'll see you tomorrow." "Okay, bye." "Bye." I hung up. "You really are her mom Mick." Gavin smiled. "I know. I try to be, because she deserves one." "I know." He sighed. "Come on, I want to show you around." I got out and he followed.

I typed in the code and we walked into the fire house. It was quiet. "I haven't been here since we were kids, and Grandma and Papa brought us up." He looked around. "I figured that you haven't. Avvy and I come to the playground all the time like you and I used to." "I remember when we used to come up and Jet was up here with his Dad and sister." "Yeah, Kyle and John used to come down too and we'd all play together." "It sucks that Avery was born so many years after us. We grew up with each other, but we didn't grow up to with her." "Yeah, I know it. You and I are only two years apart. She's fifteen years younger than you and thirteen years younger than me. But, at least she can grow up with us around." "Yeah, I know. That's another reason I want to come back here. I've been MIA from here live most of the time since she was 3." "I know, but Gavin, she asks about you all the time when you're not here. She asked what you're doing, where you are, when you're coming. You see how happy she is when she finally see's you. So, you must not have been too MIA." "Does she ask about me?" he asked. "Yes, all the time. She loves you so much. Don't punish yourself with thinking that she doesn't really know you or she's doesn't really care about you because that's not true." I put my hand on his shoulder.