This Is The Moment (9-1-1: Lone Star)

Chapter Twenty-Two

It has been a couple of weeks. Avery's reading room is all finished and set up with bookshelves and some furniture including a sofa and a swing chair hanging from the ceiling. T.K. and Carlos have settled into their new apartment. Matteo has moved into the Strand residence since his old place was blown up, accidentally, by his roommates. Jason pulls up in front of T.K. and Carlos' apartment building. Avery had called him asking if he could give her a lift as she wanted to see T.K. and Carlos, and Jason being Jason couldn't say no. Avery unbuckles her seatbelt and turns to face him.

'Thanks for driving me.' She smiles at him.

'No problem.' Jason smiles back. They fist bump and hug before Avery gets out. Jason watches as she makes her way to the fire escape and not the front door. Furrowing his eyebrows, confused, he starts to drive slowly and pulls up beside her just as she's about to climb onto the fire escape. He lowers the window. 'Erm... what are you doing?' He asks, making her jump. She turns to face him.

'Scaring T.K. and Carlos.' Avery tells him.

'I don't even know why I asked.' Jason shakes his head and laughs. 'Why go up the fire escape?'

'Because the window leads to the open plan area so I can scare them without getting exposed to something I'd rather not see.' Avery explains and then shudders at the thought.

'Right.' Jason says slowly. 'Well, I will leave you to it. I'll be waiting right here.' He puts the window back up whilst Avery starts to climb up the fire escape.

Meanwhile, T.K. and Carlos are in their bedroom changing the bedsheets when they hear the noise of a window opening.

'Wait here.' Carlos tells his boyfriend. He grabs his gun from the safe and walks out into the open-plan, closing the bedroom door behind him. A minute later, T.K. hears Carlos shout, 'JESUS FUCKING CHRIST! AVERY!' T.K. laughs and shakes his head as he walks out to them. Carlos and Avery are standing by the window.

'Erm, please don't shoot my sister.' T.K. laughs slightly, looking at Carlos. He then turns his attention to Avery. 'And you,' he adds with a sigh, 'stop giving my boyfriend heart attacks.'

'Where's the fun in that?' Avery grins as she walks to the sofa and collapses onto it. Carlos and T.K. look at each other and shake their heads before they join her. Carlos sits next to her whilst T.K. sits on the arm of the sofa with his feet planted on the cushions.

'What brings you here?' T.K. asks her.

'I wanted to scare you guys.'

'You came all this way just to scare us?' Carlos questions. 'You are a fucking weirdo.' He laughs.

'Yup.' Avery smiles, proudly. 'I was bored and wanted to kill some time.'

'And you decided to disturb our peaceful morning?' T.K. jokes.

'You know you missed me scaring the shit outta you guys.' Avery smirks.

'Nah,' T.K. shakes his head. Avery picks up one of the cushions and throws it hard so that when T.K. catches it, he falls back, landing on the floor.

'Fucking hell.' T.K. groans as Carlos tries to hide his laughter.

'Byeeee.' Avery grins as she quickly rushes back to the fire escape and leaves. Carlos stands up, walks to T.K. and helps him stand up.

'I think we need to get child locks for our windows.' Carlos laughs.

'Nope.' T.K. shakes his head. 'Wouldn't work. When she was younger she managed to push open the stair gates when they were locked. You think a lock on our windows is going to work?' He adds. 'She's a devious little shit, nothing will stop her. Trust me, I've tried.' He rubs the back of his head. They walk to the window, look out and see her jumping into Jason's car.