Save Me (An Eddie Diaz 911 Fanfiction)

Merry Ex-Mas

Christmas had come and Jane was in her element. She was wearing a bedazzled elf hat, which included a set of ridiculous cloth ears, and she was enthusiastically dancing from one child to another, her blond braid swinging wildly behind her, singing carols and distributing candy canes to all of the children she could find. Each year, the firehouse would run a Toy Drive and hosted the dozens of children who would come in with donations by showing them the fire trucks and offering treats and sweets and small goody bags.

Even when she'd been in her mourning period, she'd still approached Christmas with an admirable vigor, and this year she'd redoubled her efforts. She'd made dozens and dozens of cookies for this event. She made regular batches of sugar and chocolate chip as well as specialty diet cookies. She covered enough for those with nut allergies, egg allergies, gluten free, vegan, no sugar, no dairy, and every other iteration she could think of. Each batch was stored separately and carefully labeled. Of course, she had actually made them all nut free as she had a severe nut allergy. If she'd tried to make anything with nuts, she'd have died.

Jane had taken her own allergy scare to motivate her to get into cooking and baking. She learned how to bake around allergens, and she knew how difficult it could be for kids to find something they could eat. She didn't want a kid to lose out on a Christmas cookie because they were allergic. No kid deserved to miss out on Christmas cookies.

"Does she do this every year?" Eddie found himself asking as he took in the table full of cookie containers. They were of every possible shape and size, most of them decorated with snowmen and puppies in hats and other festive designs. All of them were labeled according to dietary restrictions.

"She's an elf," Buck shrugged. "Literally. I'm partially convinced she works for the real Santa Clause and everything else is an elaborate cover for her magical Christmas workings."

"Really? Well...it wouldn't surprise me," Eddie shook his head in amazement as he watched her hand a small girl a cookie with a bright smile plastered wide on her face.

He noticed that the mom looked instantly concerned and began talking. She appeared to be asking a lot of questions, but Jane just smiled and nodded, and held up the tin that she'd pulled the cookie from. At the sight of the tin, Eddie watched as the mom put her hand to her mouth and appeared to let out a small sob.

Jane was instantly on her feet, smile still on her face, as she gave the woman a reassuring squeeze on her free hand and gave the little girl another cookie. Then, with a parting nod of understanding, she was off to the next child, leaving behind a happy mother and daughter in her wake. Jane was spreading Christmas cheer in that magical way she had that was so endearing to watch for everyone around her.

Jane was happy, but she was getting tired. She'd stayed up for hours to ensure that she got all of the cookie batches made in time for this holiday drive. She had even commandeered additional ovens at Farrah's apartment. Fortunately, her friend had enjoyed helping with the endeavor, happy to spread joy to children and also enjoying spending time together as their work schedules had kept them busy.

Now, here she was. Her cookies were made and they had been a resounding success and her body was slowly coming down from the high of children's laughter and thankful mothers. Children were beginning to thin out, but there would be a new surge in the next half hour. Spotting her favorite crew milling about the cookie table, she danced over to them. Her smile was wide and genuine and despite her tiredness, she was happy.

"Isn't the turn out amazing?" she asked Buck and Hen, as she came over, so did Eddie and Bobby. "I'm so glad I made so many batches. I had a mother come up to me and ask for my recipes because she said her daughter is allergic to dairy and she hadn't been able to find a good Christmas cookie recipe without milk."