Cinders

~45~ Not Tough Enough

It's been about a month, and I've been trying to figure out how I can get mom to find a different job. I made the mistake of bringing it up to her a few days after the accident, and she bit my head off.

"Knock it off, Liam—You better not say that again to me."

She got in my face, and Taylor thought for sure she was gonna slug me. He gently pulled her arm back, and tucked her under his arm.

"He just loves you, Ellie Jane."

"You're NOT gonna tell me you're agreeing with him are you?" She asks, turning on Taylor.

Taylor shakes his head. "Would it make my life easier? Sure. You're already a handful, and having you at a safer job would be nice—but no. You're a pretty kick-ass paramedic, and this town would be hurting without you."

"I'm not a handful," she pouts, jutting out her bottom lip.

Taylor starts laughing. "Out of everything I just said, that's what you picked up on? You ARE a handful."

"Am not—I'm a big ray of freakin' sunshine."

"Yes you are, baby—A ray of freakin' sunshine. Not at all a handful, my mistake."

"Seriously though Liam, drop it," she says, changing her tone back to annoyed.

"Ok"

I'm not gonna drop it—My next step..... call Uncle Jake.

~*~

I called Jake last week—It took me awhile to work up the courage.

"What do you want, kid?" He had answered. He's such a grump.

I told him the story and he got really, really quiet.

"You didn't think to call me when it actually happened? You waited for three weeks after the fact?"

"I'm sorry—I've been trying to think of ways to get her to quit. I thought maybe you could try to convince her to take you up on your job offer."

He's quiet for another minute—I actually think for a second that he hung up on me.

"Your mom doesn't listen to a thing I say. I don't know how much help I'm gonna be," he says, with a touch of sadness in his tone.

"You could try!" Please try...PLEASE try...

This time he did hang up on me—He didn't even say goodbye. Grump.

~*~

A few days have passed, and I just assume that Uncle Jake decided to ignore me—It made me mad, honestly. I finally go to him and beg for help, and he blows me off.

Then, the next thing I know, Jake shows up at the apartment one night.

We're all sitting around, hanging out. Mom and Taylor got home from shift this morning, and they're both tired—They had a couple of calls in the middle of the night and didn't get much sleep.

We're watching tv, when we hear a knock on the door.

"I'll get it," Taylor groans a little as he gets off the couch. He stretches out his back before he starts walking.

Once he opens the door, I can see Taylor's back stiffen. He says nothing, but his entire demeanor has changed from relaxed, to furious.

"What do you want?" He finally asks quietly.

"I've come to see my sister—Is that ok with you? Didn't realize she has a personal body guard now. Where were you a few weeks ago when she got hurt? Huh?" Jake spits out.