Love, Dad | Joe Cruz

Chapter 3: The New Guy

"Uncle Cruz!" Came ringing through the apartment loudly echoing on walls. Joe jumps awake and hurries to Tatiana's room. The girl sat in the bed with her head on her knees. He could hear her sobs as he reaches her bed.

"I got you Mija." He sits on her bed pulling her onto his lap and to his chest. "You're safe and sound and I'm right here." It takes a few minutes before she's calmed down fully.

"Can I sleep in your room?" She looks up at him.

"Yeah grab your blanket and pillow," Cruz says while the girl climbs off his lap and grabs her blanket and pillow. She follows him to his room and sits on the bed. He climbs in under his blanket and she lays on top of the blanket. He tucks her into his side as she adjusts her blanket. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Okay try to get to sleep we got to wake up early tomorrow for our shift"

"Okay." She gets comfortable while Cruz rubs her back. She falls asleep using Cruz as a pillow. With the help of Dr. Charles, he found a therapist but her next appointment isn't until Wednesday.

---Next Morning---

Cruz walks up to the firehouse with Tatiana half asleep on his back. He hold his backpack in one hand and was holding her legs with his other. Hers was on her back still. Last night was rough for both of them. Tatia woke up because of another nightmare and then couldn't fall back asleep for another hour. Then he barely slept due to worrying about her. So he just wanted to get them both to the bunk room for a nap. Though he was excited that Sylvie is back. Especially since she's moving back in with him and Tatia. He walks into the apparatus bay seeing a bunch of people messing with some tech and stuff. He pays no mind too tired to care and goes further inside.

"Hey, Cruz. Is Tati okay?" Kidd asks as he walks in.

"Yeah, last night was just a tough night." He explains.

"Okay well, we're surprising Brett when she comes in. You gotta hide after you put your stuff in your locker." Kidd says as he walks in. He nods before going to the bunk room and tucking Tatia into a bed before putting his bag away. He heads to the common hiding by a shelf in the kitchen when Herrmann lets them know Brett got there. She walks in looking confused until she notices kidd move in the briefing room window. She walks in further and everyone jumps out.

"Surprise!" They shout.

"You should've seen your face." Foster chuckles and hugs Brett.

"Aww, you guys are horrible." She says with a smile.

"I thought a simple welcome home banner would suffice, but no," Boden says as Kidd hugs Brett.

"The donuts were my idea," Mouch says sounding like he really did just wake up.

"I missed you every damn day, roomie. Welcome back." Cruz hugs her giving her a tired smile.

"You don't have a renter yet?"

"It's just you, me, and Tati." He shrugs before walking off to the side. Tuesday barks alerting Brett of his presence. She bends down, petting and talking to the dog. She looks up at Casey when Ritter takes Tuesday away.

Cruz looks at the new guy on truck 81 before walking off to the bunk room to get a nap. He gets a solid half hour before waking up to use the restroom. He walks through the locker room to get back to the bunk room with the hope of getting a little more sleep. He notices a lock on Otis' locker. He touched it a saddened look on his face. He starts walking off before Kidd stops him.

"Ah, hey!" Joe turns to look at them.
"Gallo, this is Joe Cruz."

"Hey, great to meet you." Gallo reaches to shake his hand, "Uh, huge opportunity working next to the best
rescue squad in Chicago."