Hold My Hand

A heavy silence settled between them as Taylor focused on making coffee, fully aware of Renee’s eyes on her and trying to ignore it. She had just poured out the drinks and handed a cup to Renee, when Kelly joined them.

“Morning,” he greeted with a smile, frowning slightly as he spotted his ex, “Renee, what brings you here?”

“I was hoping that we could have a chat,” Renee replied.

“I’m going to leave you two to talk,” Taylor added, feeling as though she were intruding and disappearing to her room to get changed.

“What did you want to talk about?” Taylor heard Kelly ask as she closed the door to, causing her to pause and listen for Renee’s answer.

“Us.”

“There is no us, I already told you at Annabelle’s birthday party,” Kelly stated with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

“How long have you and her been dating?”

“A few months, what is this really about?”

“I guess I thought that you were playing hard to get at the party, but then I came here to find her wearing your clothes...” Renee explained, “You actually look really happy.”

“That’s because I am,” Kelly replied, causing Taylor to smile at the sincerity in his voice, “Taylor makes me happy.”

“That’s good... I’m glad.”

Taylor soon got changed, slipping Kelly’s hoodie back on and heading out into the kitchen to start breakfast. Renee was gone by the time she returned and, if she was being honest, Taylor was glad. She was in no way a jealous person, but having Renee around and hearing her admit that she still wanted something with her boyfriend made Taylor feel insecure.

“Some packages came for you earlier,” Taylor informed Kelly as he approached her.

“That will be the last few parts for one of the boats I’m working on,” Kelly replied, walking over to where she was stood at the oven and wrapping his arms around her from behind, “My hoodie looks good on you... I’m sorry that she ruined our morning.”

“There’s nothing for you to be sorry about,” Taylor assured him, leaning back against him and smiling as he kissed her cheek.

The rest of the day consisted of spending time at the boatyard with Kelly and ordering take-out, while they watched a movie.

***

They had just walked into the firehouse for their next shift, when a man approached them and shoved a specimen cup into Taylor’s hands.

“Fill her up,” he instructed.

“Do we all need to do one?” Kelly inquired with a frown.

“No, just her.”

“Why?”

“Kel, it’s fine,” Taylor added, “I’ll explain everything once I’ve dealt with this.”

Taylor disappeared into the toilets to fill the cup and sealed it, before returned it to the man who was waiting impatiently. He soon left and Taylor sighed, feeling everyone’s attention on her.

“What was that all about?” Matt asked as he joined them on the apparatus floor.

“Someone accused me of being under the influence of drugs on shift,” Taylor answered honestly, continuing as both men opened their mouths to argue, “No action is being taken at the moment, but I was ordered to take a drugs test as proof that the report was followed up and had been taken seriously.”

“Greg?” Kelly guessed as he stepped forward to hug her, earning a shrug from Taylor and letting her go as she headed into the locker room.

She wasn’t stupid, Taylor knew that she had started a war and that she now carried a rather large target on her back. The first move had been made, when she helped PD arrest Greg and no doubt the anonymous report was retaliation for that.

Snapped from her thoughts by the alarms going off, Taylor rushed to pull on her turn-out gear and jumped on the truck. The warehouse had already been evacuated by the time they arrived and smoke billowed from the building, but the fire itself wasn’t visible.

Matt quickly shouted out his instructions and Taylor pulled her mask over her face, following Otis inside. The fire had started in one of the empty storage rooms and hadn’t spread too far, but the damage it had done was extensive. It didn’t take long for engine to deal with the flames, following squad to another call and leaving truck to deal with the clean-up.