184A/N: Hey everyone! So despite the fact that I have yet to complete 'a Controlled Burn' I am posting a new fanfiction for you guys. I hope you guys enjoy it! Please feel free to review, favorite or follow :)- Alisabeth
Disclaimer: I do not own Chicago Fire, any recognizable characters, or any of the songs mentioned. I do however own the characters of Avalon, Emily, and the rest of the Carson family.
Grey eyes squinted in frustration as the 2007 Nissan Maxima rolled down Mason Boulevard, turning left onto Kingston Avenue as the chorus of One Direction's "Story of My Life" played through the sound system, what could be half described as a harmony coming from the backseat where two young girls near howled along. With all plans of a quiet lunch in her office and an examination of the new 'Colonial America: Life In New England' exhibit on hold, Avalon Carson sighed, cursing whoever had supposedly chaperoned her niece's field trip to Firehouse 5. The term chaperoned was used loosely. How the hell did one loose an eleven year old? Did they not perform headcounts before the bus pulled away? Watching the road before her for Firehouse 51, she flicked her directional light on and pulled to the side of the road when she found it, throwing her car into park and removing her keys from the ignition before just sitting for a moment, pinching the bridge of a freckle spattered nose.
"Sarah, Taylor, I want you to exit on Sarah's side but not until I open the door," she instructed, absolutely refusing to leave the eight and five year old in her car alone. Shouldering her purse and jingling her keys she peered in her side view mirror before exiting, closing the driver's side door with a little bit of a slam. Crossing along the rear she opened the back door, nudged aside as her niece's shoved each other to get out.
Locking the Nissan behind them, Avalon led the way up the long drive way to the door marked 'Visitors,' holding it open and following the girls inside. Glancing around she herded the two towards the reception desk, smiling at the secretary who smile with raised eyebrows.
"Are you Miss Bryant's guardian?" she asked kindly, laying a flower topped pen down on a pile of paper work.
"Yes m'am, you must be Connie. Thank you so much for calling me so quickly. I can't believe the school forgot Emily here and still hasn't called me."
Connie chuckled, white teeth flashing in her dark face. "No worries sweetheart. When she realized what happened she went right up to one of our Lieutenant's and asked him if he could point her in the direction of a phone so that she could call you. Unfortunately he was called out but he did ask that I make sure she was picked up. She's in the break room; would you like me to retrieve her?"
Watching Sarah and Taylor out of her peripheral Avalon nodded, uttering a 'yes please' as she rolled her shoulders. How her day had simply gone from going over plans for the museums newest exhibit to picking up her brother's daughters and then retrieving her goddaughter was beyond her. It was like the curse of a Monday. Thankful that her boss had allowed her to take a half day and continue her paper work outside the office she fought a yawn, pondering how she would deal with three young girls and the drafts she was supposed to finish.
"Aunt Ava!" chimed the familiar voice of Emily Bryant, her goddaughter. Turning towards the direction of the voice, Ava felt a wave of relief rush through her.
"Emily! Are you alright?" Two years of legal guardianship had yet to lessen the maternal instincts when it came to Emily. Avalon thought for the briefest of moments that the last time she had been that frightened was when she had picked Emily up from school and brought her to the hospital, sitting with her in the waiting room as Emily's parents were worked on just passed a set of double doors.
Emily's azure blue eyes danced in semi-amusement. "Mrs. Anderson forgot me and I got to hang out with the members of Truck 81, Squad 3 and Ambulance 61," the fifth grader remarked. "Other than the fact that my teacher was dumb enough not to make sure I was in her custody, my day has been awesome!"
Laughing at the eleven year old's reaction, Avalon drew her into a close embrace, resting her chin on the shorter girls head for the briefest moment. "Well I guess that's good to hear. What do you say to Miss. Connie?"
Thanking Miss. Connie Emily shouldered the backpack that had been dangling at her side, placing a plastic fire helmet on Taylor's face with a chuckle as the youngest girl shrieked in laughter as it covered her eyes. "Can we go get lunch? I finished all my snacks earlier."
Blinking owlishly, Avalon shook her head. "Thanks again Connie. Alright girls, to the car," she instructed, mentally taking note of Connie's name and the address of the firehouse. She would have to send some sort of thank you in the near future.
Calling out as her three charges attempted to bolt towards the car Avalon cursed, waving to a chuckling Connie as she also prepared herself for the call she would be placing to Walker Elementary School when she got back to her apartment.
Lieutenant Kelly Severide was tired and sore, his turnouts covered in soot and his exposed flesh tinged with a dark, dusty coating from the latest call. His head pounding, all he wanted to do was curl up on his bunk for a much needed nap after a few Advil. Stripping down to his in-house uniform he hung his turnouts up in the closet, picking up his boots and walking with them in hand towards the break room, taking a right at the last moment and pausing in the lobby as Connie hung up one of the phones, transferring a line to the Chief's office.
"Good afternoon Lieutenant Severide," she greeted without looking in his directions.
Having given up years ago on trying to figure out how she did that Kelly nodded. "Afternoon Connie. Quick question, has that student from Walker been picked up yet?"
"Miss. Bryant's aunt picked her up about fifteen minutes ago," she paused for a moment. "I would hate to be that principle," she giggled.
Kelly chuckled and shook his head, briefly occupying the thought of being a fly on the wall for that conversation. "Well that's good. If anyone's looking for me I'll be in my bunk," he yawned, hesitating. "Well after I take a quick shower… I smell like smoke and melted plastic."
The motherly woman made no comment but smiled as she shooed him away, watching as he sniffed at his tee shirt with a wrinkled nose.
"So I have the rest of the day off?" Emily Bryant repeated with a grin, a dot of ketchup coloring her lips as she spoke around a mouthful of turkey sandwich.
Avalon nodded from her place by the counter top, her cell phone laying beside her cutting board as she sliced another sandwich into petite triangles for Taylor. "Yup, and your teacher is supposedly in a world of trouble for leaving you behind. You will be excused from all homework from today, as well as the essay you were supposed to write about fire safety." When Emily began to cheer she smirked. "Although I believe it would be in good character to write a letter of thanks to Firehouse 51."
Ignoring the sight of Emily pulling a funny face from her peripheral, Avalon picked up her own plate and wandered over to where her nieces were eating, setting down her plate before going over to the hutch in the corner of her living room. Extracting a stationary note pad and a working pen she set it on a clean corner of the counter, motioning to it for Emily's benefit. Biting into her sandwich she watched as Emily finished hers, setting her plate in the sink and washing her hands before picking up the stationary. As Emily sat tapping her pen against her bottom lip Avalon grinned, turning to occupy Sarah and Taylor, relieved that Emily seemed to like Chicago just a little bit better. Breaking up a debate on whether Big Time Rush was better than One Direction Avalon chuckled, wondering how she had ended up in this situation.
Twenty minutes later as Avalon was putting away the last of the freshly washed dishes in silence (Taylor and Sarah were in the living room, transfixed by an episode of 'Boy Meets World') Emily called her over. Brandishing the stationary pad the eleven year old smirked, fingers covered in ink figures from her doodling as she handed the pad over.
Skimming the small, childlike hand writing Avalon silently mouthed the words before setting the stationary down with a small grin. "Just sign your name to it and we'll put it in an envelope. We can drop it off Saturday before we go to Mom and Dad's."
The pen moving with an exaggerated flourish, Emily set it on the table in the entry way before darting off to watch television with her 'cousins,' making an off handed comment on how cute the character Shawn was. Shaking her head and praying that Emily didn't go through the bad boy phase like she had, Ava finished cleaning up and wandered towards the living room, curling up in her worn Lay-Z-Boy and absently twisting the silver infinity ring that she should have gotten rid of years ago. It was incredibly simple for a wedding ring but that had been just what she had wanted. Zoned out, she recalled the wonderfully blue eyes and boyish smile that had drawn her to her ex in the first place. Regretting her train of thought Avalon idly tapped her fingers against her knee, wondering once more why she had returned to Chicago.
A/N: So here it is, Chapter One of 'Home is Where the Heart is.' I hope you guys like it and are interested in reading a little more. Reviews are welcome as is constructive criticism. Thank you-Alisabeth
