911 lonestar - short stories

- chapter 9

The team wait in the waiting room of the hospital, surrounded by families of all the people that were saved that night.

Many of them looked just as worried and many gave them sympathetic glances.

Carlos still didn't know what to think about all this. It was a quiet shift until they got the call. He knew it wouldn't be good, but he never thought the night would end this way.

Seeing the first explosion made his heart jump. But his training kicked in and he kept people away from it and helped others get to the ambulances. But then TK had to go in by himself to save someone.

That boy always needs to save people. Carlos just wishes it was himself for once.

Owen patted his shoulder and gave it a little squeeze. It was to say he was right there with him. They all were.

Two of Carlos's coworkers walked in and sat with them. Mateo didn't like the silence so he spoke to them to try and get his mind off TK.

"How many people are still missing".

"Theres been four confirmed deaths so far. Six still unaccounted for but we haven't spoken to everyone yet so they could be okay".

"But hundreds of people were in that building", the other points out. "So many of them would have died, but teams like yours saved them. Saved all these people", he gestures around.

They sit in relative silence for a while longer until Carlos cant do it anymore. He can't help but to stand up and pace around the room.

And then the doctor comes in. Everyone in the room looks over as he read off his chart.

"Family of TK Strand?"

The whole group of people stand up and shock the doctor before he looks back down.

"He's okay, and he's going to be okay. He inhaled a lot of smoke so he'll be in recovery for a few weeks. He might need to be on oxygen for a while but his nurses will deal with that".

"Is he awake? Can we see him?" Carlos asks in a single breath.

"He's waking up now, a nurse will wave you in once they've got him settled.

The next few minutes felt like hours as they hovered outside the door.

"He's ready", a lady said.

Carlos got in there first and everyone else nearly got stuck trying to barge through the doorway.

He looked small in the bed and his eyes were barely open, but he still smiled as they came in.

"Hey baby".

"How're you doing?"

He just smiles as Carlos comes to his side and gently wipes some hair out his face.

"You need to stop doing this".

That just made TK chuckle and try to speak.

"At least its not a - not a coma", he coughs.

Everyone laughs and shakes their heads. Owen places a hand on his head and agrees.

"Yea you do need to stop. You're fired".

"Not my boss", TK responds.

"No, but I am", Tommy says as she walks in. "And you will be fired if you do this again".

She cant hide the smile on her face.

"Why did you go in the building by yourself anyway?" Marjan asks.

"Someone was in there", he shrugged.

But as he thought about it, some of the memories started coming back.

"There was a man".

"Inside?"

"Yea", he nodded. "And one outside. He said his friend was in there so I went in. But the man inside... he had a bomb".

"A bomb?" Carlos asked as he waved in the two police officers waiting outside. "How did you know it was a bomb?"

"Uh, it exploded?"

"Baby this is not the time to sass", Carlos sighed and tried again. "What did it look like?"

"Umm. It was silver and circular like a small tube and it had wires".

"They're already looking into it as arson", Paul said. "But not a bomb".

"Was it a terrorist?" Judd asked.

"It was just a guy", TK croaked out. "His dad died because the staff wouldn't let him stay the night. The explosion on the third floor was an accident. He had more people with him. At least one more that died and the guy outside".

"What did the guy outside look like?"

TK explained everything he could remember about Michael and the man outside until his throat felt raw. Carlos left the room to phone it in and the others scolded him once more.

"You need to promise you'll stop doing this. You can't keep ending up here".

"Yea, my back hurts all the time from those waiting room chairs", Mateo agrees.

TK smiles.

"I won't".

"I didn't hear a promise", Carlos looks at him as he walks back in.

"Fine, I promise. Is that good enough?"

"You better keep that one", Nancy glares at him. "Carlos, do we need to be worried about that other guy?"

"No, everyone's working on it, they've already got a name and are headed to arrest him now. It sounds like a simple case".

"I think I know what our firehouse charity should be this winter", TK says. "Homeless shelters. It shouldn't happen again, everyone should have somewhere warm to sleep".

"I like it".

"Yea".

"I'll get right on it", Owen smiles before standing up. "We should probably go though, its been a busy few hours and I'm sure we could use the sleep".

He bends down to kiss his sons head and pat Carlos on the shoulder.

"Look after him".

"Of course".

The team says their goodbyes until its only the two men in the room.

"We should invest in a recliner for this room", Carlos jokes as he gently grasps TK's hand.

They laugh awkwardly and a silence fills the air until TK turns.

"I'm sorry".

"I know you are", Carlos whispers. "Its okay, I think you've learnt your lesson, you don't need to punish yourself anymore. Just focus on getting better, okay?"

"Okay", TK agrees before his smirk comes back. "When I go back to work next week I'll be much more careful".

"Ugh TK!" Carlos sighs. "You are not going back next week".

They both burst out laughing and smile at each other. Carlos is just happy everything worked out okay.

-The end of book 1
Thank you for reading :)
I will be working on book two soon!
(Each book is a standalone)