Playing with fire (Amelia Shepherd) ABANDONED

forty

"Let it goooo, let it goooo," Scout and Myles sang in the backseat of Mallie's car.

She was driving them to the hospital daycare before her shift, while trying not to let their singing distract her from the morning traffic.

"Mamí, call mama?" Myles said as the song ended.

"Okay, mijo," Mallie said.

She pressed the phone button on her steering wheel, using the arrow buttons to find Amelia's number and click on it. The sound of the phone ringing came over the bluetooth, the twins bouncing up and down excitedly in their carseats.

"Hey, baby," Amelia's voice came over the phone.

"Mama! Mama!" Scout and Myles shrieked.

"Oh, my tiny babies!" Amelia laughed. "How are you doing? Are you guys excited for daycare?" she asked.

"Good, mama," Myles said.

"Very excited," Scout hummed.

"What did you have for breakfast?" Amelia asked.

"Mamí made pancakes," Myles said.

"Wi' b'ue'bries," Scout said.

"Pancakes with blueberries?" Amelia gasped. "You're so lucky," she said.

"You at work?" Myles asked.

"I am at work. I'm with tía Mer and my friend, Kai. We're all working really hard," Amelia said.

"Miss you, mama," Scout said.

"I miss you all more, babies," Amelia said softly. "How are you, Mal?" she asked.

"I'm good. Taking the boys to daycare and then I've got work. Dean had an interview this morning with Oakland FD and I think he's going to take the job, so he'll be making arrangements to move to California, soon," Mallie said.

"I'm sorry, baby," Amelia said.

"It's okay. It's what he thinks is best for Pru and himself and I'm not standing in the way of that. I'll miss him, but we have phones and we can go and see him and then see Addison and Charlotte and everybody, too," Mallie said.

"Good idea, my love," Amelia said.

"Mi vida, I'm at the hospital, so I'll let you go back to work. I'll call you later," Mallie said.

"Te amo, mi esposa. Te amo, mis hijos," Amelia said.

"Te amo, mama!" the twins grinned widely.

"Adios, mi vida. Te amo," Mallie chuckled, ending the call on her phone as she parked the car. "Okay, let's go to daycare!" Mallie said, turning the engine off.

"Yay!" the twins clapped their hands excitedly.

"Mallie!" Carina beamed as Mallie walked into the beanery after her workout a few hours later.

Travis, Dean, Ben and a few other firefighters were in the kitchen, sat around the table eating their breakfast.

"Hi, Carina," Mallie smiled, accepting the smoothie Carina slid over to her.

"How was your workout?" Carina asked.

"Exhausting, but good. I haven't been able to run in the mornings now Amelia is away, so I've had to make it up on the treadmill. It's exhausting, but it'll all benefit," Mallie said.

"Have you ever tried taking the boys on a run?" Carina asked.

"That is a recipe for disaster," Mallie chuckled. "Scout seems... Vertically challenged. And Myles gets distracted by every single thing. We'd barely make it off the block before it would be time to go home and get ready," Mallie said.