It was a warm day in late spring, the smell of charcoal burning as the grill heated up filled the air. Wayne exited his lakehouse carrying a large aluminum pan filled with uncooked burgers hot dog and ribs ready for the grill, behind him his son Adam followed is another pan containing the chicken leg quarters he’d help his father prepare. Adam at 17 was only half an inch shorter than his father, with long dirty blonde hair and a mild acne on his face, his chin showed a few hairs that had started to grow suggesting it was time he started shaving. He had thick rimmed glasses and almost always wore khakis and a polo shirt, today's choice being salmon in color a contrast to the black and blue Hawaiian shirt his father was wearing with his khaki shorts.

  They sat their pans on a table next to the large brick grill that was in their backyard. Wayne Frank and Adam had built it by hand several summers ago, and whenever they had gatherings, it was Wayne’s pride and joy to show off. Lifting the cover a plume of smoke flew out momentarily engulfing the two causing them to cough and wave their hands in front of their faces. “Geez Dad, are you trying to kill me?” the young man quipped after regaining his breath.

  “No point in that, son,” Wayne responded flatly, "we don’t have enough insurance on you yet.” He gave his son a wry smile and pointed to a box at the end of the table, “Get started on those decorations, everyone will be here soon for the party.” Adam snapped to attention and gave a fake salute, “Aye aye Captain!”, before grabbing the box and heading to the back porch.

  Wayne began placing the chicken on one side of the grill, grinning at the sound of meat sizzling. His wife Crystal emerged from the back door, she was much shorter than her husband and son, with a sultry curved figure and long flowing red hair. She wore blue jeans and a t-shirt with a BAU logo on it, Criminal Minds was her favorite show. She carried a large plate covered with tin foil and sat it on the table before wrapping her arms around her husband.

  “Sometimes I think you love that grill more than me,” she said, grinning at him. He leaned down and kissed her, “Never, the grill won’t do what you did last night.” he responded playfully.

  She smacked his rear at the comment, “Careful hero, you’ll be sleeping at work.” She turned and went back inside, pausing to playfully smack her son before entering. Adam had successfully hung the banner that said, “Happy Birthday Dani” on it and was admiring his work, he was the first to hear the sound of the loud engine making its way down the road, “Uncle Frankie!” he exclaimed, before running around the front of the house.

  Frankie drove a fully restored 1966 Camarro, though he told Adam it would be his if he graduated High school with a higher gpa than his, currently Frankie was suspecting he’d have to find a new car next year. It was cherry red with a white stripe down the center, the loud chevy v8 had an unmistakable rumble as it approached the house. He pulled up, got out and then opened the door for his wife Rea and his young son Franklin. Rea and Frankie were almost the same height, she had dark brunette hair and glasses, she grabbed a car and led Franklin into the house, from which the loud excite greeting of, “Oh my god it’s so good to see you,” and “He’s gotten so big” could be heard from Crystal.

  As Frankie shut the door and turned Adam came charging from the back of the house launching himself at him, “Gotcha,” he said trying to grapple the older man, who swiftly dodge before putting Adam in a headlock, “You gotta try harder than that kid," he said before releasing him, “where’s your old man?” Adam motioned his head to the back yard, “The captain is on the grill,” he said jokingly, "but how’s my car?” He looked at it as if he was inspecting it for damage. “Is it still running good, did you check the timing like I said? are we gonna install NOS?” Frankie shook his head at the rapid-fire questions, “yes, yes, no your father would kill us both, and it’s not your car until you graduate kiddo.” Frankie replied.

  “Don’t worry Uncle Frankie I’m gonna beat you.“ he said, leading Him to the back yard where Wayne was now adding the hamburger to the grill. He was pleased to discover they were both wearing the Hawaiian shirt and khaki combo, “Hey loser I see great minds think alike.” He called to his best friend, “Shut up and help me not burn this meat," Wayne replied, reaching into a cooler and grabbing a beer to offer him. He popped the top and the two toasted.

  “So, where’s the birthday girl Buddy Boy,” Frankie was looking around but there was no sign of Wayne’s daughter.

  Wayne motioned over his shoulder, “Crystal’s mom and sister took her out today so we could surprise her with all this, she should be back in a little bit so hopefully people hurry up and get here.” Frankie nodded and the two continued to chit chat as Adam Crystal and Rea continued setting up tables and decorating and Franklin played in the yard with Wayne’s large German Shepherd Chief.

  Gradually over the next 30 minutes the party goers arrived, David Green with his son Micheal who immediately went with Adam to play Smash Brothers. Kayla by herself who grabbed a drink and joined the ladies giggling in the shade. Scott Mellon with his wife Tonya and their son Malik, he was in the same class as Danni and rumored to have gotten into a fight in her defense on more than one occasion. Several parents dropped off Danni’s friends and said they’d be back after the party.

  When Crystal’s sister pulled up with her mother and Danni everyone got quit waiting for Danni to come around back before yelling Surprise, Danni was almost her mother height at just under 5 feet, with short hair and glasses, she was a bit of a tomboy in a blue jean jumper with a yellow striped t-shirt, she smiled big as her friends all ran to her hugging her. Somebody turned on the stereo, and immediately Kayla was leading a group of 13-year-old girls in dances like the Electric Slide and the Macarena.

  A blue van pulled into the driveway and a young woman got out of the vehicle and walked around to open the sliding door. She was slender with Curly dark hair and tanned skin, she wore short shorts and a moderately covering crop top. She pulled a wheelchair out of her van and then helped a young boy get into it and got an O2 canister out for him as well. She started to wheel him up the driveway when Crystal noticed them and ran over, “Oh Joyce, I’m glad you could make it, everyone’s around back.”

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  She led them to where the party goers were gathered and called Danni to her, “ Danni this is Timmy and his mom Joyce could he join you and your friends today.”

  Danni was a very accepting child and without so much as a breath grabbed the chair and started to push him towards her friends. “Sure,” she said before calling to her friends, “Hey Jenna, come help me with Timmy.” A young girl came and together they got him to the table where she and her friends were.

  Joyce smiled and turned to Crystal “Thank you so much for inviting us, Timmy hasn’t had a chance to make any new friends since we moved here.” Wayne walked over to them, “Ms. Carson, I didn’t know you were coming, how are you?” He looked from her to Crystal and Crystal spoke up “Joyce and I met when she brought Timmy to the station to see the fire trucks, and I thought it would be nice for him to come and join in.”

  Wayne smiled, Joyce had brought Timmy to the station several times, he always seemed to enjoy the fire trucks but he couldn’t help being a little disconcerted by this sudden breach from the station into his home life, still he was a gracious host, and the young boy didn’t have any friends, so he accepted that Crystal knew better than he did.

  “Of course, the more the merrier, I hope you like hamburgers cause I made plenty, there’s also chicken and hotdogs.”

  Joyce smiled gratefully, “Thank you so much Captain Miller, you all are so nice.” She walked over to check on her son and Wayne watched carefully; he was always cautious when new people were around.

  Crystal pulled him aside, “She seems nice, but I’m more concerned about her son.”

  Wayne looked puzzled for a moment, then looked back at the boy sitting in a wheelchair having fun. “Timmy’s a good kid, he’s had it rough, he was almost killed in a fire that killed his father.” he said not sure what concern she could have about the young boy.

  “Wayne, I’m not concerned about him, I’m concerned for him, I don’t think she’d hurt him, at least I hope not but it can’t be healthy for them to be isolated all the time, especially with him stuck in that chair.” Wayne was quiet for a moment as he considered what she had said, he knew that trauma could do a lot of things to people and maybe what both Timmy and Joyce needed were friends.

  The party carried on for the rest of the afternoon, the kids played in the lake and even helped Timmy get in the water using floaties and a life jacket, the burn mark on his back and his legs drew a brief gasp at first but one of Danni’s friends broke the tension by showing of his scar from a 4-wheeler accident. Joyce made her way around the grownup's chit chatting and flirting with the few unattached firefighters there, causing Kayla and Frankie to keep their distance and stay near Wayne, they hated badge bunnies, and they had no desire to get to know her if that’s what she was.

  As the party wound down and people started to leave, Joyce found a way over to the trio of friends. “Thank you so much, for having us,” she said smiling from ear to ear, “I don’t know who had a better time, me or Timmy, it’s been so tough since everything happened, ya know. We don’t have many friends, so all Timmy ever sees is me or his nurse Malcolm”

  Wayne nodded, “How are you holding Ms. Carson? I know that going through a fire can be very traumatic.”

  She nodded, “I wasn’t there when it happened, it was a firefighter that rescued Timmy, I came home just as they pulled him out.” she looked back at her son, “I think that’s why he loves fire trucks so much.” She looked down, “my husband was sleeping upstairs when it happened and he didn’t get a chance to escape, they said.”

  She glanced away, Wayne assumed to hide her tears, but he couldn’t be sure. “But honestly you are the ones who experience it every day, I'm so thankful for people like you, people that saved my little Timmy.”

  Wayne smiled, “We just do our jobs, ma’am.”

  Frankie chimed in, “we wouldn’t be good at anything else anyways”

  Kayla scoffed, “You two wouldn’t, I could be a model.” They all shared a good laugh, and any tension seemed to fade away. Joyce began asking about the firefighter life, and the best and worst experiences they had. She seemed fascinated by some of their stories. As the night came to a close, she and Timmy were both sad to leave, but Wayne said they would be invited to the next event because they enjoyed her company.

  By the end of the night Frankie and Wayne were left cleaning up the back yard, they had several thrash bags full of bottles, cans and paper plates. Frankie checked to see if everyone had left then cleared his throat, “So when are you gonna leave bud?”, he asked.

  Wayne stood up and sighed and turned away, he’d been trying to avoid this conversation with everyone, “I haven’t said yes yet bro, I’m not sure I’m gonna.”

  Frankie dropped his bag clearly annoyed, “What the hell do you mean, this has been your dream for years. This was the fucking plan dude, make it to Chief, you’re almost there, why the fuck are you hesitating?”

  Wayne didn’t turn, he kept his voice calm and flat, “I’m not hesitating, I’m just not sure I'm ready to move on yet.”

  Frankie shook his head, “That’s bullshit, you know it the Chief knows, and your dad knew it, so pull your head out of your ass.”

  Wayne spun on him clearly in anger, “We don’t know what my dad knew, do we, cause he’s not here, he was supposed to be here for it.”

  Frankie, not backing down, got right up in Wayne’s face, “Did you do all this just for him, cause he told you not to do it,” he roared, “do you think if he was here he’d want you to give up, this department was his baby he took care of it, and now you’re really gonna let somebody else do it, are you fucking serious?” The two stood facing each other both clearly angry, and both clearly hurt, neither moved for a moment, and anyone watching would almost be positive one of them was gonna swing.

  Finally, Wayne took a deep breath and stepped back, grabbing a beer he sat and stared off into the distance, “See this is why I’m glad you work for me, no one else would stand up to the captain like that.” Frankie laughed, “I don’t fucking work for you, “Grabbing his own beer and joining him, “I work for Scott, he works for you.”

  Wayne laughed, “I’m not ready for him to be gone man.”

  “Yeah, but he wouldn’t want you to let this chance pass you by.”

  Wayne took a swig, “Ya knows once I leave no one is gonna keep you and Kayla from killing each other.”

  Frankie smirked, “Come on Scott will keep us straight.”

  “You must be crazy Frankie, Scott will encourage you two to have a death match and sell tickets.”

  From the house Crystal and Rea watched the exchange, Rea smiled, “Told you Frankie would get through to him.”

  Crystal nodded, “I know I can’t believe that worked, I’ve been avoiding having to deal with it for weeks now.” She smiled really big and squealed, “I’m gonna be the chief's wife.”