Tommy liked the days when he was allowed to do simple work on his bird. He was pretty happy with the people who did the major work on it, but he mostly liked to do the small stuff himself so he could see how everything was going inside and also that it was going to be fine to go up when he needed to.

Part of Tommy's degree, which he had earned while first out of the Army, was about learning what he could about helicopters and planes. He had accumulated these over the course of years, and it was only once he was done with them that he had aimed for Harbor.

The field Tommy was in was far enough away to be out of the way if there was a callout. Miriam would be the one to handle that since Tommy's bird was offline for routine checking. It was going to be a pretty day, so Tommy had flown to the edge of the lots to get some sun. He had taken his overalls down to where he was just in his T-shirt and the arms of the overall around his waist to keep it all up.

It took a while, but Tommy felt eyes on him. He realized he was being watched but had no idea who could or would be doing it. He looked around in the guise of looking for a tool but saw no one. He went back to what he was doing, trying to figure out what was going on, when he heard the scuff of shoes on the tarmac.

Tommy was not expecting to see two kids there. They looked to be about eight or nine years old. A boy and a girl who shared so many facial features had to be siblings. They were well-dressed, clean, and healthy.

"Hi," Tommy said.

"Hi. We got lost," the girl of the pair said.

"You really did get lost to end up here." Tommy looked around and tried to figure out how they had gotten where they did. The airport was pretty much closed off outside of the private landing areas, from which they could have easily come. It would track, but that was still a long distance to go from there to here. "How did you get here?"

"We might have snuck around. There were a lot of weird people where we were, so we just went until he saw the LAFD symbols, but there were a lot of people rushing around. Then we saw you. Dad said that if we got lost, it was good to go to a cop or firefighter. I guess that firefighter pilot would be just as good."

"I see. And who are you?"

The boy eyed him and said nothing. The girl scoffed. Tommy had a feeling he wasn't going to get a name at all. He tried to figure out what to do as he grabbed a rag to wipe off his hands. He was covered in so much stuff that he didn't want to get it all over his home. He reached into his pocket, and when his hands were clear, he saw a text that the crew had headed out for a small fire on the far side of the airport after a car caught fire in the public parking lots. That had been what the kids had seen.

"Where is your father?" Tommy asked.

"They were probably looking for us after we slipped away." The girl pointed toward the side where it was public land on the other side of the fence. They hadn't come from the flight area, but one of the fence gaps had been pointed out, but none wanted to fix it because it would cost money.

"Do you want to call him?"

"Want to? No," the boy said. He was finally speaking up for the first time. He crossed his arms over his chest. "But I guess that we should."

Tommy started to hand over his phone after opening the calling app, but he saw a man coming toward them. For two seconds, Tommy felt like maybe he should put the kids behind him in case this man was after them for bad reasons, but as he got closer, Tommy could make out enough matching features.

"You just had to run away, huh?" the man asked.

"Dad!" The girl spun on her heel and rushed to him while the boy just stayed where he was.

The man was beautiful, and the smile on his face as he crouched down to hug his daughter made him even more beautiful. It was lovely to see a family so happy like that.

"It was Ryder's idea, wasn't it?" The man asked.

"It was our idea," the girl said.

"Are you okay, Ryder?" The man asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was having fun watching him work on the helicopter, but Janie thought that we should make ourselves known so he could call you." Ryder finally moved over to hug the man.

"Thank you for watching them. I saw you getting ready to hand over the phone." The man laid his hand on a radio that Tommy knew was an LAFD issue. Buckley to Donato."

Tommy knew the name of Buckley from Lucy and from Howie.

"You got the menaces?" Donato asked over her radio.

"I do. They are with a very handsome pilot who is doing maintenance on his bird out in the furthest reaches of the LAFD area."

"Ah, that's Kinard. He's a softie."

"That's good to know. I'll drop the radio off on our way out of here. Thanks for the assist," Buckley said.

Tommy picked up a second rag and started to wipe his hands off even more, more worried about touching the kids or Buckley.

Ryder looked at Tommy while Janie looked at Tommy. They looked wise beyond their years, but Tommy had no idea what kids their ages were supposed to look like.

"Okay, so that's good. Everyone else will stop looking for you two. Now, tell the man to thank you for being interesting enough for you two to stop and not just keep on wandering around until the TSA found you."

Tommy laughed as the kids turned to him and said their thanks. Then they cuddled into Buckley's side as he stood up. He kept the radio slung over his shoulder. Tommy had wondered what the guy was like who had replaced him at the 118 but had never really cared enough to ask about him. he had heard just like most of the LAFD had about a lot of things that had gone on at the 118 after the whole lawsuit that had ended up with the LAFD with egg on their face for sidelining someone on the word of someone who had just been as affected as the man he was sidelining.

The union also underwent sweeping changes after that since Buckley had gone there first and was told just to retire and shut his mouth about coming back to work.

Buckley had moved to a different station for six months while the 118 was evaluated, and it was only once that was done that he returned to the rest of his teammates. Tommy wasn't shocked when Buckley had stayed with the LAFD, but he was shocked when he had gone back to the 118.

"Thank you for at least not just yelling at them to get off your lawn or something," Buckley said.

"You think I'm that old?" Tommy asked.

"Nah, I just think you look like the kind of person to tell people to get away when you are doing this kind of thing. Or anything, really. Thank you again."

"What's your name?" Tommy asked as Buckley turned around to leave.

"Um, Evan Buckley. You?"

"Tommy Kinard."

The name sparked something, and Evan's face softened a little. There were three other Kinards in the LAFD, one who had made an ass of themselves the year before at the 118, which had made Tommy wonder how Evan had gotten along with him.

The way that the kids looked back at him made Tommy feel like he was going to see them again.

---

Tommy knew that face well from just a single meeting, but he wasn't sure it was a good thing he was up a tree when a wildfire was raging in the area.

"Where is your father and sister?"

"I'm out here with a scout troop," Ryder said as he reached out to Tommy. Once Tommy had held out his hands, he got the boy settled into the harness that would help Tommy with him. He wrapped it around the kid extra tightly and was more than ready to get the hell out of there by the time he gave the signal that they were secure.

Ryder was the last kid, but the teacher had been in hysterics, and the kids couldn't say much about who was still out there.

"Where is your flare?"

"One useful thing that Dad makes us carry when we head camping. I dropped it after firing it when I heard the bird. Is it the same one?"

"No, this one allows for more people than that one. It's why I'm attached to the harness here. Getting people out over just flying around and looking for people. Someone else spotted your flare and gave us a rough area where it had to come from. Why up the tree?"

"There is a small natural fire break around it, and the smoke is being carried the other way. It's not the best, but it was getting too hot down there, and I didn't have anything to protect myself."

Tommy let Lucy take Ryder from his arms, unhooking Tommy's harness as he got himself into the bird. He shut the door, and they took off.

Lucy dropped a headset on Ryder's head, and Tommy connected his back to the general chatter channel that was being used for coordination.

"Ryder," Evan said. He sounded like a building had just sloughed off him. "Carla is on her way to you, and she's going to take you to the hospital. After she drops Chris and Janie at Abuela's."

"I'm good. I lost my cover, which prevented me from breathing in the smoke. Tommy saved me."

"That's what Lulcy told me. I guess he's the trouble magnet for buckleys who are in trouble."

Tommy snorted and looked at where they were landing. A few people were gathered around, but he didn't see anyone he didn't know, which meant that Carla wasn't there yet.

"I can meet this Carla somewhere else. She's not here yet."

"She's at least half an hour out. I don't need to put you out."

"Nah, our shift is getting ready to head out for a mandatory rest period. We had been working hard before that on the big highrise fire across town. We were called because we were already in the air, and I was about to leave when this call came in; we jumped right back into the helo and took off," Tommys said.

"I guess that would be okay. I'll text Lucy Carla's number and let her know to expect a call."

Tommy waited for the rest of the details to go over, and he was more than happy to help the other man with this. Carla was going to have trouble getting there and going through the people who were there to keep rubberneckers from getting up there. It could take her an extra half an hour from getting in there to getting Ryder out of there.

"Wanna listen to the chatter?" Lucy asked.

"Yes, please."

Lucy changed the channels for him and muted the sound so it wouldn't pick up anything they said. Then Lucy grinned at Tommy and turned her channel. Tommy went to the helo's specific channel and waited to hear what was coming next.

"I get you are mitten, and I'm not telling you no, but in the time that I worked with the 118 and what I have heard from before, he's only into women. So, don't feel bad if he turns you down."

Tommy nodded, and he was glad Lucy had told him that. He also understood that keeping things hidden was what some wanted. It had seemed like Evan was flirting with him the month before. Now, he wasn't so sure, but he was willing to see what happened after all of this.

Once it was fully settled down, Tommy got out and picked up Ryder to carry him over to where he could get a cursory check to make sure that it wasn't better for him to be evac'd out by a bird.

Lucy stayed back, getting the bird ready for the next crew and making sure that others were getting what they needed. Miriam was over in the medical tent, helping with any injuries that happened to other firefighters. This tent was for actual nurses and even a doctor who had come out three hours before.

"He's good. Where is his caretaker?"

"His sitter is coming to get him. I'm not sure why the father isn't coming and getting him; beyond that, he could actually be working a shift. He's a firefighter as well."

"Okay, I'll take care of the paperwork at this end since the hospital will want that if he's being taken to be checked out. I'll make sure that it's all in hand."

The trip from the staging area didn't take Tommy long at all. The command truck for Harbor was what they were using to get to and from the station, but there were others on hand, and Tommy just hoped that the people with him wouldn't mind the stop, especially if it took Carla longer to get to them than Tommy thought.

"I was up a tree!" Ryder screamed when Tommy and he got out of the truck.

Tommy looked for who Ryder was talking to and saw a woman leaning on the side of a Jeep.

"And that is going to get you looked at by a doctor," a different woman said.

"Ah, Aunt Maddie, I wanna tell Janie all about it. Where is she?"

Tommy looked for the kid as well, but she wasn't visible. It was late enough at night that she could fall asleep in the Jeep's back.

"Tommy, are you off shift?" the woman who had spoken asked.

Tommy looked at her and tried to decide whether Aunt Maddie should be on the father's side or the mother's.

"I am."

"Good. You can come with us, and in the morning, we can take you to Harbor to get your car."

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Tommy asked.

"Ugh, men. Maddie Han. Howie's wife and Buck's sister. Aunt to the terror twins. Janie, plus Howie and I's daughter, Jee-Yun, are back at the house. Buck's out of town for some kind of class that he was kind of secretive about with Eddie."

"And what about Chris?" Ryder asked.

"He's there, too. Abuela is a little under the weather, so Carla asked if we didn't mind taking them all in for the evening since she was supposed to get off in a little while, and Pepa was supposed to watch them. Pepa's got Abuela at the emergency care center to get any medications she might need. So, you get me tonight."

"Yeah, party," Ryder said.

The second woman finally pushed off the side of the car, and she stepped over to Tommy and Maddie.

Tommy was trying to imagine Howie being married to this woman. He had known about it, and the affair had been kept small, and Howie had told him that. He knew about Jee-Yun as well but had never met her.

"You good, Kinard?" Lucy asked before she slipped into the driver's seat.

"Sure. I'll crash at Howie's tonight."

"Cool, you can tell Janie the story so she believes it," Ryder said.

Tommy smiled when Maddie laughed, and Carla finally got Ryder to get into the car.

"Why both of you?" Tommy asked as he got into the backseat to sit beside Ryder. Thankfully, it was behind where Maddie was, as she had her seat up all the way, allowing Tommy to fit into the vehicle without too much issue.

"I was getting off work, and it was easy for her to get me instead of Howie having to come out and get me. My car was taken in for repairs as it was hit in the parking lot on my way to work today when I stopped for coffee. So it's getting fixed and I was going to be picked up by Howie."

Tommy nodded, getting tired now that he didn't have to worry about driving. He was one of the ones who could drive no matter how tired he was as long as the car was cool inside. So when it came to this kind of thing, he was always the one to drive. Lucy was pretty good at it, as well.

"Sleep," Maddie said, looking at Tommy with fond eyes, even as Ryder kept the chatter up inside the car.

Tommy tipped his head back and closed his eyes. The coolness of the window on his face was kind of nice. He wasn't going to be able to sleep, but he could at least rest.

"Heer," Ryder said.

It took Tommy a few seconds to realize that the boy was talking to him. He turned his head and looked at him. Ryder was offering over a pillow. It was pretty thin-looking but would help with the hardness of the glass. He might actually be able to sleep using it.

"Thanks."

Ryder nodded and then started talking again. The soft chatter had Tommy falling asleep in a few minutes.

---

Eyes on him woke him up. Tommy stretched and looked to see if it was Ryder or Jee. Janie hadn't been too enthused about him being there the night before, but Ryder had been all about it, and Jee-Yun had been one to watch him constantly.

Only it wasn't either of them. It was Evan, who was leaning in the doorway with a smile on his face.

"I would have expected you not to stay just because you wanted to be in your own bed after work like that."

"I didn't really want to go to Harbor and get my shit and drive home. I might have actually just bunked down there. I've done it before after fires that we are released from early. You made it back."

"Yeah, we were released from it last night when I got the notification. There is just a single day left, and it's pretty much just testing out. They are going to come down and do it next week for him and me. The 118 might be called in to help with the fire for our next shift, and the word had made it around on that, so they let us go so I could see my son and then get some rest time in." Evan pushed off the doorway and headed toward Tommy.

Tommy only noticed the cups in Evan's hands when he sat down and handed over one. Tommy got up on his side to take a drink of the coffee. It wasn't his preference, but it was hot and sweet and didn't burn him, so all in all, it was a good cup of coffee. He made a face when he drank it, though.

"Not how you like?"

"I like my coffee iced with vanilla instead of just sweet cream like this, but I can drink it, don't worry. I've learned over the years to drink a lot of shitty stuff. How is Ryder?"

"He's good. Maddie and Carla checked him out, and unless something happens today that makes them think that he needs any kind of breathing treatment or the like, we should be good. Due to the nature of my job, the kids are both well aware of what to do in a fire. I didn't know he would climb a tree, but it probably saved his life. I cannot thank you enough for going back up even when you were just about done and shouldn't have."

"Life and death, we both do it and know it. I didn't know it was him, but I'm glad I was the one to save him."

"Janie's upset that Ryder nearly died on the first trip, and the scoutmaster told her she wasn't allowed to go on. Normally, she's allowed to tag along and do her own thing while the boys do whatever they need from their badges. He's not leaving her sight for a long time."

"Hmm, I can see that. They are close, even for twins. It's kind of nice."

"I always wanted a twin growing up. I wanted someone who would love me for who I was and never hate me like my parents did. My ex thinks that all of my childhood wishes were why we had twins."

"Ex, huh?"

"Yeah, she was very, very much child-free, but she had been getting a lot of pushback on not being allowed to get anything done to make sure that she couldn't get pregnant because she might change her mind. Well, the accident happened, and she was spiteful enough to go through it." Evan smiled and looked at his cup of coffee before taking a sip. "She stops by a few times a year to see the kids. They understand now why their mother can't be around and are happy for the time they get, along with the long emails she sends them about what she's doing with her life. They are friends, and the kids are good with that. She sends child support and makes sure that they have everything that they need."

"She sounds like a good person."

"You are one of the few who think so. For a while, there was a lot of judgment from the others at the station about it until Eddie laid out how much it hurts to have a mother who doesn't want to be a mother and then forces themselves to be one. That's Eddie's story. Why am I telling you all of this?" Evan asked.

Tommy laughed. He handed his cup back over so he could sit up. Once he was settled, he took the cup back and then waited to see what Evan was going to do. No matter what Lucy said, Evan was putting off vibes that he was flirting and that he wanted to be kissed, but Tommy was going to wait to make sure.

"Some people aren't meant to be parents, and it's good not to force them because parents who don't want to be parents can hurt their kid a lot, even if the damage isn't physical," Tommy said.

Evan's phone chimed, and he leaned to the side to take it out of his pocket. "Twenty minutes until Chim gets here with breakfast. Everyone decided that making breakfast was a no-go. Eddie's here since Chris wasn't missing out on being fed. You can meet him. I guess that the kids have all decided that you are staying."

"I'm not going to leave until it's time to head to get my vehicle from Harbor and go home. I'm just glad that we were able to keep our turnouts with the vehicles there so that we didn't need to worry about taking them in the command truck with all of the ash and everyone all over them." Tommy leaned in a little, and Evan mimicked him.

Evan's eyes darted down to Tommy's lips and then back up to his eyes, so Tommy took the chance, kissing him. Evan made a noise, and then he pressed back into the kiss, his free hand brushing Tommy's thigh before just dropping to lie there. Tommy pushed in again, and he cupped the side of Evan's face to keep him right there. Evan made a noise into the kiss before he grabbed Tommy's shoulder.

Whatever Lucy thought about Evan only being with women seemed to be a little bit of a mistake.

"Was that okay?" Tommy asked after breaking the kiss. He touched Evan's chin and smiled at him.

"Yeah, that was okay. I'm..." Evan trailed off and looked a little like his world had shifted. "That's what this feeling is?"

"What feeling?"

"Like I wanna be around you. I thought it was just like when Eddie joined the 118 after we got the whole me being a jealous idiot who thought he was replacing me out of the way. It was different, and I couldn't put my finger on it, but now that I'm thinking about it, it's something I want."

"To kiss me?"

"Yeah. That was my first kiss with a guy."

"Hmm, so Lucy wasn't wrong?"

"Lucy? What did she say?"

"You had only been with women in her knowledge, and I needed to curb my crush until I was able to get knowledge if you swung that way. She was trying to protect me."

"I mean, she's not wrong, but I think I've been on this little road since the first time I saw you at the airfield."

"Yeah?" Tommy asked. He looked at the door to see that it was still empty, so he set his coffee down, and Evan did the same before leaning in for another kiss.

This time, Tommy let Evan take control of it, and I was just as good as the first one, with Evan being just a tad hesitant until he had it all in stride. Tommy hadn't ever had a pair of first kisses that felt as good as this.

"Ugh, must you?"

Tommy didn't break the kiss but waited for Evan to do it. When the kiss ended, he looked at the door and saw the twins there with Eddie behind them. Eddie had his hands over his eyes.

"Eddie,' Evan said.

"Is the kissing done? My poor eyes can't take it."

"You asshole," Evan said.

"Yeah, more money in the jar," Ryder said.

"I didn't bring my wallet," Evan said.

"I'll stick a buck in there for you, Buck," Eddie said. He finally dropped his hands off his face and smiled at them. "Is he bouncing before breakfast?"

"Nah, I'll stay. Not gonna bounce for a while, I think."

Eddie grinned, and when he turned to leave, he pulled the twins along with him, debating with them whether a dollar should go in the jar for the kiss or not. That started up a whole discussion on whether there should be a kissing jar to stop them from kissing in public all the time. Then, they were too far away to be heard.

"Would they really?" Tommy asked.

Evan's look told Tommy that he was right that they would. He might not have had a lot of time with the kids, but it was enough.

"You really aren't going to bounce?" Evan asked.

"Nope. I gotta take you on a date sometime soon."

"I'm free today, or I will be."

Tommy laughed, and he kissed Evan again.

"Okay, that sounds good."

The End