Chapter 1
ONE
CROIS
He stretched out his legs under the table at Peggy's Ann's Diner and stared at his half-empty basket of fries.
He heard a soft sigh from the other side of the table.
"What?"
He looked up to see his partner's almost-blank stare.
Crois realized that she was waiting for an answer and Pilar wasn't about to give it.
"What's up with you, Bravo?" He smiled at her and that cracked the stoic look on her face.
"I'm trying to figure you out." The skin between her brows creased. "You're staring at your plate like it owes you money."
Crois looked down at the basket and felt his lips flatten into a thin line.
"Yeah, well... I ordered the healthy option for fish 'n chips and it's... disappointing." He lifted one of the steamed carrot sticks that had been added to his plate along with the green beans. "There's no butter on these."
Pilar's shoulders shook. "Well, you ordered healthy and I don't think a bunch of butter would fit into that... category."
He sighed, letting his breath out from his nose. "I hate it when I'm complaining and you... you go ahead and make sense."
Pilar shrugged and picked up one of her fries. She dragged it through the ketchup and pepper on her plate and folded it into her mouth. "I don't really sugar coat. Sorry."
He shrugged. "I wouldn't have you any other way, partner. Except," he leaned closer to the table, "I just wish I could win a few times."
Pilar smiled at him. "Win? It's not a competition, Crois. Think of it as if... we're a winning combination."
Crois leaned on the table and reached across, picking up one of her fries and before she could stop him, he popped it in his mouth.
The moment he did, he smiled and chewed happily. He was trying to cut back on his carbs, but he couldn't pass up on a chance to eat one of Peggy's kick ass fries. It was still hot.
Pilar's expression looked like she was sizing him up for a hole six feet under. "I can't believe you!"
He smiled back at her. "Your fries in my mouth? That's a winning combination!"
"You know you wanted fries. Why didn't you just order them?"
"You know I'm trying to cut back on carbs for the fight coming up."
Pilar raised one eyebrow at him as she moved her fries closer to her. From his vantage point it looked like it might just fall off of the table and into her lap. "Then don't steal my fries!" She put her arm on the table like a wall between him and her fries.
"You know that's not really going to stop me if I want more, right?"
He was barely holding back a chuckle.
"Then go ahead and try, Crois." Pilar tipped her chin down and looked up at him through her dark lashes. "You might be able to grab one or two..."
There was something about the look in her eyes that killed the laughter that had been about to escape his lips.
"...but you might lose the fingers holding them."
Crois felt the color drain from his face.
He'd had his share of disagreements with Pilar since they'd started to work together, but nothing that serious.
The tone of her voice now?
Chilling.
"You might be trying to avoid carbs, Crois, but I'm dealing with wedding planning stress. Do NOT mess with me."
Crois opened his mouth to remind her that her mother was in town, helping with the planning leading up to the big day. Her sister-in-law Sloane King Bravo had come up with a whole cadre of sisters-in-law and a few cousins to help as well.
It seemed like she had lots of help and shouldn't be worrying about stuff, but then again, he wasn't a woman. So, he'd never be a bride and face the kind of stresses that she was under.
Pilar narrowed her eyes at him. "What?"
He swallowed and felt how dry his mouth was. "Nothing."
Crois saw Pilar's eyes narrow even more. He didn't blame her. He didn't think his answer sounded truthful either.
So, he tried to explain.
"I was just thinking that I haven't done anything to help out with the wedding. What can I do to help?"
For a moment, her expression softened nearly into a smile.
For a moment.
Then she sighed and sat back in her chair. "I just need to get to my honeymoon. And then I'll be fine."
Crois was back to fighting off a smile. "Well, I can't help you with that."
Her lips curved up in a smile. "You better not." She picked up her glass of water and took a sip. "Roan might not be a fighter, but he has his share of scalpels."
Crois almost swallowed his tongue. "Wow, you're getting scary."
She smiled again, a full, bright grin. "Hey, that's not me! That's my man!"
Crois was smiling, too. "Yeah, I think you're rubbing off on him."
As soon as he said the words, he knew how it sounded.
Well, not to someone who didn't know them, but he'd been partnered with Pilar long enough to know where her mind would go.
Not in general, but he knew where her mind went with Roan.
Because it did-
Or they did, a lot.
He was proven right when Pilar's cheeks reddened.
She didn't wear make-up on the job, so when her skin reddened, he knew it was a blush.
"I'm looking forward to the honeymoon," she sighed. "It'll be nice not to worry about a call from the ER interrupting..."
Crois put his hands down onto the tabletop and lowered his chin.
He knew his own cheeks were red by the heat he felt.
He was happy for his partner.
How could he not be?
PIlar Bravo was amazing.
She wasn't very tall, but she walked like a giant. She was tenacious and damn good at her job.
Early on when she joined the force and he'd been partnered with him, Crois had heard all the 'masculine' shit that some of the officers were saying about her. At first, it just irritated him.
Officers on the street had it bad enough without other officers making it hard for them in the Precinct.
And if they were blabbing about it in the men’s locker room, he knew it would be there on the street, too.
The way that they treated her on the street. The looks they likely gave her, to her back.
People would notice.
He knew that Pilar did.
She just didn't talk about it.
Even to him.
Although...
He smiled at his next thought.
Pilar probably did talk to their sergeant about it.
Kate Turner was going to be Pilar's sister-in-law, but she was also their direct supervisor.
And being a woman, she understood all too well what Pilar was experiencing.
"You know," he spoke softly and reached out for another fry.
Pilar smacked his hand away.
He shrugged it off. "I'm going to miss you while you're on your honeymoon."
Pilar's face changed.
From shock.
To confusion.
To... something like awwww.
"You like me."
He leaned back, his face contorting into some kind of denial. "What? Like you?"
He snorted and his fingers tapped on the tabletop. "Don't make this into something, Bravo. I count on you to have my back, and you know I've got yours."
She smiled at that, the humor gone in her expression, but there was a real warmth in her eyes. "That's why I've grudgingly," she smirked at him, "asked you to be my man of honor."
He felt that now-familiar warmth in his chest spreading around. "Speaking of that," he cleared his throat, "are you ready for your bachelorette party?"
Her forehead creased a little. "You really don't need to. We can all just get together somewhere and-"
"Hey," he lifted his hands from the table in a vague gesture, "I got this!"
Pilar opened her mouth to talk but their radios squawked.
"Accident at Twenty-Eigth and the 92 off-ramp. Single car. Railing along the off-ramp. Onlooker called it in."
Crois nodded. The voice from dispatch wasn't Irish Noble. It sounded softer, gentler. Miriam Rubin. He nodded.
"Who is in the vicinity?"
Pilar gave him an expectant look pushed back her chair.
Crois was already pushing down the button on the side of his radio. "Car Twelve. We're four blocks away."
"Good."
Crois was up on his feet. He felt the awkward bump of his legs against the seat of his chair.
"Civilian on scene reporting that are visible injuries and the passenger is pregnant."
Crois nodded and reached for his tray.
Peggy rounded the corner of the counter at the back of the diner, waving them on. 'I've got this,' she mouthed at him.
Crois reached into his pocket and pulled out the cash for their meal and a big tip.
Pilar brushed past him and they were out the door a moment later.
HARMONY
Harmony looked down at the newsletter in her hands as her partner on the rig sang along with a song on the radio.
They'd been hopping since they'd come on shift and this was the first moment she'd had to look over the newsletter that they'd had in their divider slot at the fire house.
It was a good system that Fire Chief Aldo Campanelli had installed just shy of the main doors onto the apparatus floor at Firehouse Twenty-nine.
All communications were placed in slots for the ambulances and the other rigs assigned there.
As news or information came in, they were updated through an online message box system, but main communications came in in hard copy as well.
"Anything good?"
She shook her head before remembering that he had his attention on the road. "Not really. It was all covered in the morning meeting, but there are some notes on some upcoming community events that will need paramedics on call."
Vega, her ambulance partner, brightened up and tapped his hands on the steering wheel. "I'm in as long as I'm not on shift. I can use the additional cash."
Harmony looked out over the hood of the ambulance and watched the city roll on by as they headed wherever Vega wanted to go for lunch.
"What about you, Harmony? You want to work some extra events?"
She knew that he'd asked her a question, but her mind was drifting a little.
She didn't usually take on extra shifts outside of work since she volunteered at a couple of women's shelters in the area. She'd rather give her time there instead of sitting in a hot tent waiting around.
She preferred to be active and helping where she felt she really was needed.
Vega turned to look at her and she saw him smile. "What about Peggy Ann's for lunch?"