Fireproof

“Alright, Parker. Everything looks good, just some light bruising on one side. You’ll probably be sore but nothing too bad. The stitches can come out in two weeks and your little one or little ones are doing fine.” The emergency room doctor told me as she finished up with the stitches in my head.

“Great. Thank you.”

“No problem. Take it easy okay?”

“Yeah, I will.”

“Oh, you have a visitor if you feel up to it.”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

I closed my eyes as the room went silent, the events of the day catching up with me. It was hitting midnight and I had yet to hear anything on Criss. I was trying to keep my thoughts focused elsewhere although I really had nothing positive to focus them on right now.

“I swear you have got to be the most unlucky person ever, chick. Fuck.” Tommy said as he walked in.

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. In fact, I’m going to catch my breath and get out of here. I’m going to go crazy sitting here waiting to hear about Criss.”

“How is he? I was listening on the emergency scanner app on my phone so I have an idea, but..”

“Not good. I don’t really want to talk about it.”

He nodded and smiled weakly. “Okay. Um, I was supposed to relay a message to you from Nikki. He wants to talk to you if you feel like it.”

I looked up at Tommy, shocked. Today had been so nuts I had pushed the whole me and Nikki thing to the back of my mind.

“He’s a completely different person than he was this morning, Parker. What did you say to him?”

“He didn’t tell you?” I asked, shocked that Nikki hadn’t told him I was pregnant.

“No. I came back from the house and he was up trying to walk with the physical therapist and fully cooperating. He said he realized he was being stupid and that was it.”

“I’m pregnant.”

“What?! No way! Didn’t Nikki say that you couldn’t get pregnant or did I dream that?”

I laughed. “No, you didn’t dream it. That’s what I’ve always been told and it’s been true. I’ve never taken birth control. But something about Nikki made it happen. That’s all I told him this morning. I was planning on telling him the day he had his surgery, but that didn’t happen. I just basically told him that I was used to being let down by men in my life and if he didn’t want me anymore that was fine but he was not going to turn away from our kid.”

“Ah. Well, that definitely did the trick. Go talk to him. You guys deserve each other. And holy fuck I’m going to be an uncle for real!”

I walked with Tommy back up to the sixth floor where Nikki’s room was and Tommy took a seat watching tv in the waiting room while I went to talk to Nikki. I knocked on the door and entered once he had said come in.

“Parker.” Nikki groaned as soon as I walked in. He was looking at the stitches in my head.

“I’m fine. Really. It’s not as bad as it looks. How are you?”
“Worried sick about you. I know that’s hard to believe but I’ve thought long and hard today about everything and I have been an absolute ass. I’m sorry, Parker. I shouldn’t have acted the way that I did.”

“It’s fine, Nikki. You’ve been through enough. Just focus on getting better for whatever comes our way in nine months.”

I didn’t have the heart or energy to call him out on how he had acted and to me that was a little bit childish.

“I want to focus on getting better for you, too, Parker. A kid or kids will change everything but that doesn’t mean that you get pushed aside. I want us to be a family and I want you to be able to count on me for anything at all. I’m sorry that I became just another name to add to your list of men that have let you down. I promise it won’t happen again.”

“Don’t say that. Let’s forget the things you said and start fresh right now okay? I don’t hold grudges and that was a big shock to you. But we are going to get through this, okay?”

“I know we will. But I really am sorry, please know that.”

“I do. Now stop talking about it.”

“Can I have a kiss?” He asked, almost as if he expected me to yell at him because he had asked.

I laughed. “Of course.”

Things felt perfect and right again as we shared a kiss and life would have been perfect again if Criss wasn’t on another floor fighting for his life currently. Nikki questioned me excitedly about me being pregnant and he started tossing out names. I was definitely beyond excited, but I was a little afraid of getting too excited and making too many plans in case something happened and I lost the baby. With me being considered high risk that was definitely a possibility. I think he picked up on that.

“You’re scared aren’t you?” He asked.

“I am very afraid.”

“Then why the hell did you put yourself in danger today, P?”

I figured that was going to come up at some point too.

“I honestly did not mean to. I went and told Jep that I was done and he told me that he was going to start training me for Captain duties because he wasn’t always going to be around. It was a condo building and all I did was run up to the edge to grab a kid from one of the guys and then the blast happened. There’s something up with that. The gas lines were off. Jep was pissed and that’s why my best friend and practically brother is in surgery right now. Nikki, I can be stupid and dumb when it comes to my life and saving others but you know I wouldn’t be that stupid. I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and it was truly an accident. I guess I’ll stay by the truck the entire time from now on.”

He nodded his head and had a sincere understanding look on his face. It had taken a lot to tell Jep that I was taking a back seat for a little while because fighting fires was my life but now the life growing in side of me was my life.

I finally got word around three that morning that Criss was out of surgery and in the intensive care unit and still wasn’t out of the woods yet. He had a fractured neck, a couple of fractured vertebrae in his back, a shattered leg and some internal injuries that had been repaired. He had been on the third floor when the building collapsed and although he had gotten banged up pretty badly, he was expected to make a full recovery, but the road was going to be long.

My mind started to race as exhaustion from the day’s events took place. The house was finished which was a good thing, but I had no furniture for extra rooms yet nor did I have any of Blaze’s stuff set up yet. Nikki wasn’t far from coming home and having a physical therapist work with him at home and when Criss did get to come home he sure wasn’t going home by himself. I had a lot of work to do.

“How is Criss?” Nikki asked as I went to tell him bye before I went home.

“He’ll be okay but he’s got a long road ahead. I’ll have to go get Blaze from the babysitter tomorrow so I guess I’m going home to get everything settled in a room for Blaze. I feel like I have so much to do and I don’t even know which way to turn.”

“Would it be easier for you for me to just go back to California until things settle down so you don’t have to worry about me too?”

I honestly could have slapped him for saying that. “What? Fuck no. I want you here with me so I can help you, not a half of a country away. Stop talking stupid like that.”

“Hey, I was just asking. I don’t want to be a burden.”

“No one is a burden. I just have a newly built house that still needs some settling into which I was expecting to do on my terms as I felt like it. But getting all done now won’t be a bad thing either. I want my men home with me and comfortable. I’ll see you tomorrow okay?”

“Okay. Hey, come here.” He said.

“What?” I asked as I stepped to the side of his bed.

“Well, first off, I love you and I’m glad you’re okay after today. Secondly..” He gently pulled me a little bit so that my stomach was closer to the head of his bed, and he turned slightly, kissing my stomach. “Daddy will see whoever is in there tomorrow, too.”

I couldn’t fight the tears back that so quickly filled my eyes and it had been a long few days since I had smiled this big. Hearing that I was pregnant had definitely been exciting but then I had to wait to tell Nikki which had been no fun, but now it was starting to fully sink in that what I thought would never happen to me was actually going to happen, with the man of my dreams no less.

“Get some rest, okay? I love you so much.” I told him.

“I love you too, Parker. See you tomorrow.”

I was all smiles as I left the hospital and headed home that night. Life had its ways of testing you and pushing you to your breaking point but if there were ever two people who were headstrong and would never quit, it was Nikki and me, and I knew that no matter what came our way, we were going to get through it and be okay.