Chapter 12
TWELVE
LEXIE
Talk about draining.
The Rescue Crew had returned to the fire house after Rock went into surgery.
Not because they had to go back into service, but because they were being taken out of service.
With two members of the crew injured, they were calling in floaters and members of other shifts to man the Rescue Crew vehicle and take active calls.
And the waiting area filled up again as the crew members returned to sit and wait.
By the time Rock came out of surgery, the whole Emergency Room let out a breath.
Doctor Kay Hata was what some people called petite.
Some diminutive.
But the only word that Lexie used to describe her was AMAZING.
When she walked over to Kate, surrounded by Rock's firehouse family and her brother, Walker, Kate's eyes lifted to her other brother Roan who was walking behind Doctor Hata.
Lexie could see that Kay was well aware of it, but Kay didn't care.
They knew Kate's relationship with her brothers, and she was looking for reassurance.
Who wouldn't?
As Kay spoke, Kate's whole body sagged back into the chair she was sitting in. "He's fine, Kate. He's going to be just fine."
Kay stepped aside and Roan pulled his sister into his arms to hug her tight.
Walker, the detective, blinked back a few tears of his own before he got up and leaned into the hug with his siblings.
Lexie picked up her clipboard, intending to walk away and let out her own sigh of relief, but as she turned, she very nearly walked into a wall.
A very handsome wall.
"Hey," Kaleo put his hands on her shoulders, "how are you doing?"
"Me?" She grinned up at him. "I'm fine."
He looked down at her one eyebrow lifted. "Everyone's been on edge."
She almost snorted a laugh and barely held it back.
"S-sorry," she shook her head. "I didn't mean-"
He pulled her into his chest, wrapping his arms around her.
"Hey," he kissed the top of her head, and she leaned into his embrace, "we've all been on edge. Some people laugh. Some people scream. We deal with stress in different ways."
She looked up, touching her chin to his chest so she could see his face. "Thanks... I've been known to laugh at the completely wrong time. It's just..."
"You don't need to explain." He gave her a smile and rubbed his hands down her back. "But, if you want to talk about things, I'm here. Okay?"
She blinked back what might have become tears.
"My... my emotions are all over the place."
He smiled down at her. "I bet. I've had some downtime, but you've been working pretty much non-stop."
She shrugged. "It's the job, right?"
Her phone buzzed and she smiled when Kaleo stepped back. It must have felt a little odd to him since her phone was in the front pocket of her scrubs and it was basically right between them and it must have been close to his...
"Lexie here."
"Hey, this is Carla in Peds."
Lexie brightened at that. "Yeah? You have an update?"
"CCPD just called. They looked into the people who died in the crash. She's related to one of the men who was in the backseat."
Their words were sinking into her head.
"That's... That's..."
What should she say?
It was sad?
It was, but that didn't come close to the loss that the little girl had suffered.
"Did they identify family who can take custody?"
She felt Kaleo's hand on her hip and her breaths were easier.
"DCFS is putting her in a foster home for now. They're not sure that the family they've found is a good fit."
Lexie felt an ache in her head.
"The guy she was with is her uncle. Two of the people arrested at the accident scene were cousins of her uncle."
"Ah..." She nodded to herself. "It makes sense to investigate. Do you need me to do anything? Call DCFS?"
"Hmm... No. They're doing what they need to do. I just wanted to let you know the developments."
"Thanks, Carla. Let me know if I can help you in the future."
"Thanks, Sweetie! Have a good... Oh, hey! We're off shift in a half an hour. Go, us!"
The call ended and Lexie put her phone back into her pocket.
"Everything okay?"
She looked up at Kaleo and nodded.
"Carla reminded me that I'm off shift in a half an hour."
He nodded. "Can I take you out to dinner?"
The idea was a good one, but...
"Can we order in?"
He nodded immediately. "Your apartment or mine?"
For some reason, she hated the way that sounded.
"You pick."
He frowned a little and drew her closer into his embrace. "It takes fewer steps to get to your apartment. Let's go there."
Her aching calves agreed. "Sounds good."
DUKE
Their food arrived while Lexie was showering and he set the table, he was waiting for her to turn off the water before he opened the containers.
He remained standing by the table waiting for her. His mom would have kicked his ass if he hadn't.
Don't ask him how, but she would know somehow.
His phone rang and he turned his head one way and then the other for secret cameras before taking it out of his pocket and answering the call.
"Mom! How are you?"
There was a moment of silence before she sighed. "Missing you, Kaleo. You're so far away."
He heard the soft ache in her voice.
"Mom, I miss you, too."
He felt her love.
It might seem silly to some, but he'd grown up with his mom, his aunts, and his little sister.
He wasn't afraid of showing love or saying how much he loved them.
It was better to do it when you could instead of...
"Kaleo?"
He heard his mother's voice reaching out to him.
"Mom?"
"You're thinking so hard, kamaiki. I feel it all the way over here in the islands."
He put his hand over his heart and swore he felt her love, too.
"I was just thinking about Tutu."
His eyes welled up with tears at the thought of his grandmother.
"What brought this on?"
He let out a breath and spoke from the heart.
"Regret."
He shook his head and blinked away the tears.
"I never got to say goodbye."
He heard his mother's sigh, but he didn't hear judgment.
He heard love.
"She knew you loved her, Kaleo. She knew it every day. You didn't have to be there for her to know it. You didn't even have to tell her for her to know. Love... Aloha... comes from the heart, but it lives there, too."
He nodded. "Yeah, I know... But I still feel like I should have been there."
"What happened?"
"There was a car accident today. We were called to the scene where two cars were hit by a train. The only survivor from both cars was a little girl."
Images from the scene played over and over in his head.
"When we rescued her from the car, she hugged me, holding me so tight."
He heard his mother's soft chuckle through the phone. "A little 'opihi."
He laughed out loud. "The EMT I was working with said limpet."
"Funny, isn't it?" His mother sighed. "No matter where you go in this world, there are things that are same all over the place."
"It's true. It's so true." He leaned against the table and smiled. "She held on and I had to hold her all the way to the hospital and then for a while in the Emergency Room until she got used to things. Well that and Lexie gave her a stuffed animal."
"Ahhh..." His mother's voice was full of love. "Thrown over for a stuffy."
It was true. "It wasn't until later, hours later, that I realized I used to hug Tutu like that when I would cry as a kid."
"She was always your favorite when you were sad."
There was so much truth in his mother's words. There was no denying it.
"Yeah... I just remember when she was sick. When she died, I was at hula class."
A sharp ache settled in his chest.
"I should have been there with her."
"Kaleo, you were a little boy, and no one wants to think that people in their lives are human. Frail. That we'll die someday. We want our loved ones to live forever."
"If only that was possible."
"Her passing was something no one could predict."
He nodded, silent on his end of the call.
"She was sick, but she'd beat bigger battles before. She had breast cancer before you were born. She beat that. How could anyone think that the flu would be enough to take her."
"I just wish... I wish I could have told her that I loved her one more time."
"Don't we all. But, I bet you tell her love her all the time. You just don't know it."
He felt his forehead pinch in a frown.
"When you do your job. When you help save people. When you do what you love as a job. She knows. She feels that love, Kaleo. And I hope you feel her love, too."
"Yeah."
He felt Lexie's arms around his middle and her head against his back.
She was holding him.
Hugging him.
Every