They continued on for a bit, him listening to her talk about the world around them and settling deeper into his heart.
The grasses ahead of them parted and a bird flew out and across their path. When it settled down on a rock a few feet away, he smiled.
This bird, he knew.
"Black crowned night heron."
She turned and smacked him lightly on the arm. "Yes!"
He grinned at her, happy to make her happy. "Don't get too excited. I only know what it is because they're native to Hawaii. My aunt Momi knows every native animal in Hawaii. She's taught classes at the university and for kids at cultural sites."
Kaleo saw the glint in Lexie's eyes and knew what she was going to ask next.
"This name, I know." He leaned in and kissed the tip of her nose. "'Auku'u."
She wrapped her arms around him and laid her cheek against his chest. "You know," he could feel her smile, "I feel like bumping into you on your first day in Center City was the best luck I've had in... forever."
He couldn't hug her any closer since they were fitted together from his knees to the top of her head, but he did his best to surround her with the warmth he felt for her. There was so much he didn't know how to say to her, but he knew how she made him feel.
Like he never wanted to let her go.
NINE
DUKE
Something he'd never had to deal with in Hawaii, even on the Rescue Crew, was an accident involving a train.
When they got the call, Kaleo rushed out to the truck along with everyone else, tugging on his bunker gear, listening intently as the information on the crash was relayed to them over the radio.
He recognized the voice on the other end of the call as Miriam from the 911 Call Center.
He'd also come to recognize the voice of another dispatcher, Irish Noble. Irish was married to Theo who was assigned to the ladder truck at Twenty-nine.
Miriam was Irish's best friend.
And she was blind.
Just knowing how great she was at her job, it just amazed him.
Miriam's calm, cool voice detailing a horrible accident made him feel that things were even worse.
On the drive over to the site, Rock and Halo, a guy named Javier Suarez, talked to him about what to expect on scene.
Kaleo knew just where all of the big equipment was stored on the rig. He'd used all of them during his time as a firefighter.
Today, he had a feeling they were going to use all of it.
What the others didn't tell him, but he could read all over their faces, was that they weren't likely to rescue all of the victims.
They'd likely be recovering bodies, but there was always hope.
And that hope was what he was going to hold onto.
The scene when they arrived was chaotic.
Smoke was rising from the engine of the train and there was debris everywhere.
They all piled out of the Rescue truck and opened all of the compartments while Faust rushed forward to the scene and assessed the damage and the need for help.
