Stand By Me

Eighteen

It was late by the time Taylor woke up the next day, making her way downstairs and sighing as she remembered that the others were on shift. Though the fall had caused no real damage, the doctor had suggested that she take a week off to rest and chief Boden had quickly turned that into an order that no one could argue with.

Sat at the kitchen table eating a late breakfast, Taylor pulled out her phone and opened a new message. Please be careful out there she typed, selecting Kelly's name and sending it.

Always came an immediate response, causing her to relax slightly and smile down at the phone in her hand. Once she'd finished eating, she got ready and made her way over to Mrs. Caswell's house with some groceries. Taylor let herself in as she always did, frowning when she heard an unfamiliar voice coming from the living room and walked in to find Mrs. Caswell sitting with a grey-haired man.

"Ah, Taylor... I was just telling Harry all about you," Mrs. Caswell said with a smile, "Harry, this is Taylor... Taylor, this is my youngest son, Harry."

"It's nice to meet you," Taylor replied, shaking the man's hand and motioning to the bags she was holding, "I'm just going to put these away."

It didn't take her long to put everything away, returning to the living room and standing awkwardly in the doorway not wanting to intrude.

"So, Taylor, mom tells me that you're a firefighter," Harry stated when he spotted her.

"Yes, sir... two years with the CFD and counting."

"How's the job treating you so far?"

"Some shifts are better than others, but that comes with the territory," Taylor answered honestly.

"Must be rough for a girl of your age, dealing with death and the carnage that is left behind."

"Sometimes, but I go into every call with the hope that we can get everyone out and the knowledge that, unfortunately, that's not always possible."

"That's a very mature mindset to have," Harry commented, "I'd like to thank you, not only for your service to the city, but for also taking time to help my mom... it's reassuring to know that she has someone looking out for her."

"It's my pleasure."

After an hour of conversation, Taylor said goodbye and grabbed some lunch at the diner before heading home. The rest of the day was spent baking and watching movies on Netflix, until she eventually fell asleep. She wasn't sure how long she'd been asleep, before she was awoken by the front door and peered over the back of the sofa to see Kelly along with Shay.

"I'm going for a shower," Shay announced, dropping a kiss to Taylor's head in greeting and disappearing upstairs.

"How was shift?" Taylor inquired, moving over as Kelly joined her and settling comfortably in his arms with her head resting on his chest.

"Long," Kelly mumbled as he tightened his hold around her, "Boden thinks that we have a possible firebug on our hands."

"Just what we need, especially after what happened with the chief and Eric."

This was answered with a tired grunt of agreement and Taylor listened as Kelly's breathing evened out, before allowing herself to slowly drift off back to sleep. It was a little after noon when she finally woke up, running a hand over her face and carefully untangling herself from Kelly's arms.

With a yawn, she padded barefoot into the kitchen to put the kettle on and sat on the counter as she waited for it to boil. Pulled from her thoughts by her phone chiming, she opened the new message from Antonio and felt the color drain from her face as she read what it said.

Just a heads up, someone paid Greg's bail and he's being released tomorrow