Embers

by Carina Alyce

  “It was for a good cause. Couple of days ago, there was a spot fire, and I saw the Pink Lady going to get hit by the grappler.”

  “That was you?” Abby said.

  Jacen/Wills/Jordan held his mask over his face, and sure enough, that was her rescuer. “That's when Jacen became Jordan.”

  “It's also because you can't dribble or dunk.” Noah spoke to Abby, “You’re the Pink Lady?”

  “Yep. Or I was until I cut off all my hair and ditched the pink. Why?”

  “We heard about you… the Pink Lady.” Noah turned bright red.

  “Supposedly, there was a hot chick at St. Paul’s called the Pink Lady who could make you forget about a this for an hour. In the non-sexual way, like being funny and cute and—” Jacen poked Noah in the shoulder. “What? She's prettier than you. Nicer boobs.”

  “Don't talk about her boobs. Every friend I had growing up was in love with her.” Noah cringed.

  Jacen was being merciless to Noah. “I can see why. She's hot and spicy.”

  No time like the present to make it worse. Abby announced, “And I'm amazing in bed.”

  “Even better. I like my women opinionated and wild. Do you bite?”

  “Stop! Do not hit on my sister!”

  “That’s not hitting on her. That’s making conversation. This is hitting on her. ‘How you doin’?” Jacen winked at Abby. “I like to live dangerously.”

  “Dangerous is when I punch you out, asshole. Your boxing is as bad as your jump shot.”

  “Nothing's worse than my jump shot. I wish I could teach you how to dance,” Jacen said.

  The two of them argued for a little while longer, and Abby reached out to lace her fingers with Hank’s. Noah had been a quiet, geeky kid. It could have been because she hovered over him. In the past eighteen months, out of her shadow, he'd matured in a myriad of ways. It was nice to see Jacen bringing him out of his shell.

  “I'm glad you finally found a friend. Especially with as quiet as my brother is,” Abby said.

  “Oh, I know. He was that jerk in the back of my econ class silently getting A's on everything and freaking blowing our curve. It took me two weeks to get him to talk. It was probably ‘cause I gave him a beer, which I would not do because he was underage.”

  “Yes, because you love following the rules,” Noah retorted.

  “I am following the rules. I’m not hitting on her, even though I could totally take Hank.” Jacen smirked.

  Hank fake threatened Jacen with his blowtorch. “Don't mess with me. I also own power saws.”

  “It’s very flattering, but, Jacen, your cradle’s too far from this tree for me. Besides, you’d get your ass kicked by the FDNY. They all thought I was married to Hank before now.”

  “When he told me he had a sister, I didn't quite expect her to be this hot. Or I thought he'd end up revealing that you were secretly his mom.”

  Everyone cracked up at the disgusted look on Noah’s face.

  “Speaking of Mom and Dad, you said you talked to Dad?” Abby mentioned.

  “Every night.”

  Abby rubbed her face. “Noah, Dad's dementia is bad. Very bad. And Mom’s MS is a lot worse. You never talked to her because she's always asleep.”

  Noah paled. “Dad sounded fine.”

  “I know how he sounded. Tuesday night, he told us you were fine and at a sleepover.”

  “That's something. I told him I was sleeping in the city.”

  “Not exactly. Ever since you moved, he thinks every phone call is you.”

  “I didn't know.”

  “I didn't tell you. I didn't want you to leave us, but once you were gone, I tried to protect you.”

  Noah waved a hand to encompass the destruction behind them. “I don't need your protection.”

  It didn’t have the intended effect, because it made Abby even more afraid for him. She hid her fear because it wasn’t her life. She’d tried and failed to dictate his choices before. “I guess you won't leave Cleveland and come home.”

  Her brother laughed, and she was struck by how much deeper his voice had gotten in the year he'd been away. “Sorry, sis. There's too much snow in Wisconsin.”

  Jacen laughed. “Seriously, Bakes? Cleveland is one of the snowiest places on the planet. Might be worse than Wisconsin with lake effect snow.”

  “Then forget snow. I have a life in Cleveland. I have friends. I have dates that my sister doesn’t break up.”

  “First off, you hardly dated. You had at best four dates your senior year.” She raised her hand about four feet off the ground. “He was this tall. Then a little testosterone hit, and he thought he was God's gift to women.”

  “Only if you liked the silent and starved type,” Jacen said. “When I saw your senior picture, you needed to eat like twenty hamburgers. I love that your sister broke up your dates. I have to do that to my sisters.”

  “I didn't break them up. I just happened to come downstairs with the two of them sucking face and him trying to get her bra off. He was not good at it. Terrible.”

  “It was the first try, and I'm a lot better now!” Noah protested.

  “Are you still a virgin?” Abby asked archly. “Because Hank can give you some pointers—”

  “No!” Noah covered his ears.

  Hank clamped his hand over Abby’s mouth. “No more talking for you. How long are you staying in New York?”

  “We were leaving with the Ohio team tomorrow, since I don’t think Hertz expects our rental car back,” Jacen said. “He’ll take his transfer to 33, and I’ll enroll in the academy after the New Year.”

  “You can let her talk, assuming she doesn’t ask me to leave Cleveland,” Noah said.

  “A week ago, I would have asked… or demanded. I want you to be where I can freaking see you at all times.” Abby raised a hand before he could argue. “But I won’t. You need to spread your wings.”

  “Translation: she’s okay with you staying in Cleveland if you call her once a week and keep her updated on you not being dead,” Hank added.

  Noah broke into a huge grin, and Abby realized her brother was going to be one hell of a heartbreaker. A quiet, sensitive one, but one none the less. “Wow. You get her, even if she always says everything that pops in her head.”

  “He'll love me because tact takes too long.” Abby gave Hank a kiss. He followed it up with a longer kiss.

  “Should we leave?” Jacen asked loudly.

  “You wait till you fall in love,” Hank said. “It’ll tear you to pieces, and you’ll love gluing yourself back together.”

  “Sure I will,” Jacen scoffed.

  Noah had a thoughtful expression before refocusing on Abby. “I hope you aren’t mad. I don’t want you to think I’m abandoning you with Mom and Dad. I love you and them, but—”

  She shook her head, “This is your chance to be free. I had the chance with college. Besides, I won’t be alone.”

  “Didn’t you say he was from Michigan?” Jacen remembered.

  “Yep. Hank, want to move your company to Wisconsin?” She kissed him. “Or do long distance?”

  “Absolutely not. I need to keep you where I can see you. I’ll call Jerry on the drive.” Hank looped his arm over her shoulder.

  “If we leave now, we can get the car in Jersey and spend the night in Cleveland in Noah’s apartment,” Abby suggested.

  “I’ll sign out now.” Hank stood up, obviously ready to seize the chance while she was willing.

  “What about me signing out?” Abby said.

  “You snuck in,” Hank reminded her.

  “True.” Hugs were exchanged, and Noah promised his next vacation would be to Wisconsin.

  Abby did have one parting shot. “Noah… where do you keep the condoms in your apartment?”

  He rolled his eyes. “I’m not answering.”

  Hank grabbed Abby’s arm. “Don’t worry. We won’t be needing them.”

  “Wait—what?” Abby thought for a second. Did he mean… “You seriou
s?”

  “Yep. I bet they’ll raise hell just like their mama.” He pulled their masks back on and said farewell to his new brother-in-law and Jacen, formerly known as Wills.

  “Bye, Noah! Don’t forget to call. Once a week.” Abby linked her arm with Hank's. “So lucky you weren’t a hook-handed murder.”

  He took both her hands and stood with her in front of the site behind him. For a few seconds, they stared into each other’s eyes, their own little corner of light in this dark. The world as they knew it had ended a week ago, and whatever happened next, they would face it together.

  Because if you find a good thing, you hold onto it for as long as you can.

  The Diary of the Chaplain at MetroGen

  Tuesday September 18, 2001

  Then there are miracles. We had a family reunion today – and a wedding! I’m fairly certain firefighters from Cleveland were involved. What are the odds! Hopefully those guys can stay out of trouble, but I doubt it.

  My time here is ending as they are installing clergy and psychologists to be here on a semi-permanent basis. MetroGen needs me back, and I’ll go.

  Still, part of me will stay behind. Everyone who has been here leaves a little part of themselves We can never replace those we lost, but we can give closure, and preserve the hope and love.

  We won’t forget.

  Never.

  Tuesday September 11, 2001

  5:56 PM Central Time

  Voicemail box of Abigail Baker, Admissions Counselor, University of Wisconsin-Madison:

  “Abby, it's Noah. I just got off the phone with Dad, and he said you were at work. I wanted to let you know that I’m safe. I got out in time. I miss you, and I love you. Jacen and I are going to work here for a while and then go back to Cleveland. When I'm back, I want you to come visit me… because you're my sister, and I love you. I’m hanging up. There's a long line needing this phone behind me. See you soon.”

  Thanksgiving 2014

  Milwaukee, Wisconsin

  The Diary of the Chaplain at MetroGen

  Thanksgiving 2014

  I love Thanksgiving. It is the ultimate holiday for everyone – it’s never on a Friday or weekend to interfere with Christians, Jews, Mormons, Seventh Day Adventists, or Muslims. We can all eat – or not eat – the turkey and watch football.

  Or course, with the togetherness, it really shows which relationships are going to sink, swim, or mire themselves deeper in dysfunction. The ER becomes the best show in town as families demonstrate their willingness to fight to the death over the right to cut the turkey or get that last drumstick.

  (Word to the wise – never argue with the person cutting the turkey . . . you’ve been warned.)

  It’s not all bad – the good usually doesn’t call 911 and get a visit from Cleveland Fire with a nice ride to the ER.

  Chapter 15

  “They're coming! They're here!” Nathaniel Bartholomew Finster shouted.

  “Hold on,” Abby picked up six-year-old, Annabelle, who was wearing her very favorite ruffled pink dress. Just like her mother.

  “Hey there, Pink Lady,” Jacen Williams greeted her with a hug.

  “Glad you made it, Jacen.” Abby hugged him back, eternally surprised by how much he had changed in the past decade. Gone was the pudgy joker, replaced by a six-four mountain of muscle with a wicked, but more mature sense of humor.

  “Come in, Auntie Dre!” Nathan yelled, having inherited Abby's demeanor.

  Alexandria 'Dre' Williams entered with a smile. “Abby! Hank!”

  “Welcome, welcome.” More hugs were exchanged. Abby genuinely liked Jacen's wife. She was calm and quiet, which somehow complemented her loud gregarious husband. She was in no way humorless, which was important considering she worked at the post office.

  “Did you forget me?” Noah followed them in. Abby internally laughed because he'd gone gray at thirty-two, same as she had. Her hair was full-silver which Hank had said made her a silver vixen after a round of Twenty Questions.

  “I thought Kathleen was coming,” Abby observed. His girlfriend of almost a year had RSVP'd and not shown up.

  “Sorry about that. She had a family emergency,” Noah explained.

  “On Thanksgiving?” Abby had met Kathleen twice and was not impressed.

  Hank clamped a hand on Abby's shoulder before she was tempted to say more. “It's great to see you, Noah.”

  “Up, Uncle Noah. Right now. Please,” Annabelle demanded, remembering to add the magic word at the end.

  “Wow, that is a lot of pink,” Jacen said because Hank and Nathaniel wore pink polo shirts. “Was there a pink explosion?”

  Nathan had an answer for that. “It's the Pink Lady thing. Annie loved the story and decided everyone else had to wear pink. Mom was going to wear pink anyway, but then it was me and Dad, too. Boys don't wear pink.”

  “I wear pink,” Jacen said. “All the time.”

  “You do?”

  “Absolutely. It's very manly. It shows that you are a man if you can wear pink.”

  “Are you wearing pink now?” Nathan doubted.

  “Keep it PG,” Hank warned.

  Jacen took off his jacket and revealed a pink tie. “Love pink!”

  “I wore pink.” Noah hung up his coat and showed off his white, blue, and pink pinstripe dress shirt with pink tie.

  “What about Aunt Dre?” Nathaniel did not sound convinced that men wore pink.

  “She's not wearing pink because pink is for boys,” Jacen said.

  Annabelle started crying, “I can't wear pink?”

  “Don't listen to him.” Dre dropped her coat on top of her husband's head. She was wearing the adult version of Annabelle's dress. This had been preplanned by Abby and Dre well in advance.

  “We're twins!” Tears gone, Annabelle jumped from Noah to Dre. “Twins, twins, twins.”

  Silent laughter was exchanged because Annabelle had Abby's skin tone, and Dre was a few shades darker than Jacen.

  “Exactly like twins,” Jacen agreed.

  The amusement was short-lived because Annabelle had an announcement. “I'm having a baby. Are you having a baby? You should have one. Did you forget it at home?”

  Dre's eyes fell, but she soldiered on. “No. No baby right now. I'll tell you when I get one.”“I got six. And my teacher’s having a baby and—”

  “Why don't we get inside?” Hank swung his daughter onto his hip. “No need to get cold, and the turkey is in the oven.”

  “Who cooked this time? Was it you?” Noah asked Nathan.

  “It was Mommy and Daddy. You know they kept kissing. Gross!”

  “Are you sure he's your child, Abby?” Noah took his nephew's hand and passed the framed photo of the elder Bakers, Hank, Abby, and Noah. It was taken a year before their parents’ deaths. They had faded slowly over the first two years, and Hank and Abby had put off children till afterward.

  Anabelle brought her doll collection, then her construction truck collection, and then her firetruck collection. Dre patiently learned the names of every item while Noah and Hank were thoroughly educated on the latest comic book adventure Nathan had read.

  “Jacen, why don't you help me in the kitchen?” Abby invited him in a blatant fishing expedition because Jacen had joined Noah in Wisconsin for the first Thanksgiving after 9/11. His recruitment to help Abby cook had been a mistake. Once they turned off the smoke detectors, Abby had let him try his hand at chopping vegetables. After they’d applied pressure to his consequential wound, he was banished to the couch with her dad who believed they were re-living the glory days of the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers.

  “You sure?” Jacen went through the door to the kitchen.

  “I'm not letting you touch anything hot or sharp. You're getting the table settings out unless you’ve learned to cook.” She pointed to the cupboards, and he began to remove the dishes and cups.

  “I'm allowed to make coffee. My firehouse even lets me do it unsupervised.”

  “I'm sorry about A
nnabelle. She's marriage and baby-obsessed lately. She asks me every day if I'm having another one. I am not ending up like Mom,” Abby said because she was forty-seven now, almost the age her mother was when she got pregnant with Noah.

  “It's not your fault,” Jacen said, “Dre’s doing okay, and we'll see my family for Christmas.”

  The reason Jacen had jumped on the invitation for a Wisconsin Thanksgiving was because of the baby rain in their families. His sister Caitlyn had her third in October, and Dre's sister-in-law was pregnant. Jacen and Dre were married eight years without children.

  Abby bobbed her head. “Nothing?”

  “Nothing,” Jacen said. “Trying is fun. Though, eventually it becomes work.”

  Abby had the option of cracking a joke or letting him speak. She went for letting him speak. “Work?”

  “It's not 'work’ work, but timing it around my shifts, performing on command with those stupid ovulation kits.” He shook his head. “I love her so much, and she's amazing with kids. I think about seeing her with our baby and… the idea of being a dad and our child…”

  His words trailed off, and Abby gave the only appropriate response. “I'm sorry.”

  “That's all right. At least I'm good at the work.” He tried lightening the mood. “Really good at the work.”

  “Usually, I'd give you some type of snappy suggestion, but are you seeing somebody about this?”

  “We got a new doctor. I've been saving up money, working extra shifts. Even my stupid ass boss gave me time off to get this stuff done.”

  “You mean that ‘stupid ass boss’ that’s my brother?” Abby guessed Noah would give Jacen anything he needed to make his family.

  “That's the one. Has he told you the big news?”

  “He's buying a pony?”

  “He’s on the short list for promotion to battalion chief. You may not realize this, but he is insanely deliberate. Chief Pegg is impressed.”

  “Really? What he did he do?”

  “Noah scored a big coupe when he convinced Munnis to come up from Columbus. He's going to be section chief of the East. And since you and Noah keep in touch with the New York guys, Noah got in touch with Taggert. He's joining arson investigations and is going to be probably the next fire marshal in Cleveland.”