“Is that the name you would use for a girl?” I chuckled. “No matter their name or gender, I can’t wait to meet them.”
“Me too.” Thomas hummed. “I’m glad they are okay. I guess I’ll need to let Jason and the crew know. I don’t think they will be letting me fight anymore fires for a while.”
“No. They better not.” I sat back in my chair. “Did you want me to bring Jason in? He’s out in the waiting room with the rest of the guys. They all showed up once the shifts changed over. Jamie and Charlie have been out there since the ambulance brought you in. I was at their place when Jason called me. The nurses didn’t let them back while you were out but now that you are up, I’m sure some of the crew would love to see you.”
“Please.” Thomas checked his hospital gown and made sure everything was covered. “Can you have them come in? I’ll keep it short, but I need to make sure everyone else on the team is safe too.”
“I understand.” I got up and headed to the door. “I’ll be right back.”
Over the next hour or so, the whole crew was able to check in with my mate. Jason was worried when we shared the news about the baby. Not because it meant one less member of the crew to go out on calls but because he had unintentionally put our child at risk.
“It’s no one’s fault. No one knew. Including us,” Thomas reassured his fire chief. “But the doctor assured us everything is okay and the pregnancy is still relatively early.”
“You do know that you will be going on administrative work from now on until you come back from paternity leave. Right?” Jason pulled out his phone and sent a text. “I just messaged myself a reminder to make the notes in the schedule to bring in one of the floaters if needed. You take a couple extra days off to rest, okay? And when you come back on shift, we will keep you busy with safer duties than going out on the calls. Our little mini-Thomas needs to be kept safe.”
“Told ya, it’s mini-Thomas.” I poked my mate’s arm.
“Shush.” Thomas laughed and then focused back on Jason. “I don’t need any extra days—”
“Please don’t argue with me over this.” Jason sighed. “Me and the other guys were afraid we lost you, and now I am kicking myself over putting your unborn child at risk. Take a couple days’ rest to ease my concerns. You get paid leave and I get to make sure you are truly okay before coming back to work.”
“Fine.” Thomas grabbed his phone and made a note in the calendar app. “I’ll take the paid leave and spend it binge-watchingOmega Beachsince you are forcing me to.”
“That’s the spirit. Binge the shows, catch the z’s, and come back refreshed and ready to turn all our analogue files into digital ones. Deal?”
“I knew there was going to be a catch. The idea of taking a paid break was too sweet. Now I know why? I get the job no one else wants.”
“We can throw in extra treats throughout the day to keep the deal worth it.”
“You better.” Thomas scoffed. “I request brownies for the first day. And Trevor’s meat loaf for dinner.”
“Whatever you say.” Jason walked toward the door, ushering the rest of the crew with him. “Well, see you next week. Rest up.”
Once everyone left, I got my mate some water and sat on the bed next to him. “Why don’t you drink this then get some more rest. It seems you have a big day of streaming waiting for you tomorrow.”
“Thanks.” Thomas finished the glass and handed it back to me. “Care to join me in myOmega Beachmarathon?”
“Sounds like my type of day.”
Chapter Fifteen
Thomas
“I absolutely hate administrative work.” I wanted to scream at the completely mundane task of entering data into one of the station’s laptops for several hours at a time. “I miss going out on calls. Even the ones that turn out to not be a fire but a paranoid old lady who swears she smells smoke where we find nothing. At least I feel like I’m doing something.”
“But you are doing something.” Trevor sat on the edge of the desk, a mug of chamomile in his grip. “You are actually doing something important.”
“Something no one else wants to do,” I snarled. “That’s the only reason you say it’s important. Because now, everyone else doesn’t need to take turns entering the information since I’m the dedicated admin support for now.”
“Yeah—” Trevor looked at me and must have realized I was not in a mood for jokes. “Why don’t I go grab you a few of those stuffed croissants that Oliver brought in this morning? I’ll grab you one of the spinach kind, one Swiss, and one of the chocolates. Sound good?”
“Yep.” My mood started to lighten with the mention of yummy food. “And some of the fruit punch that’s in the fridge. Okay?”
“Anything for you, buddy.” Trevor pushed himself off the desk and headed out of the office. “Be right back.”
My phone lit up with texts from Isaac.
Isaac: How’s your day going?
