ꗃ ﹕𝑾𝑶𝑵𝑫𝑬𝑹𝑳𝑨𝑵𝑫 . . . . . 𓈈 𓍢 ░
𝖠𝖢𝖳 𝖮𝖭𝖤. ── ༅𓂃🚒゛໒ ࣪˖˚
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𝒊. 𝖥𝖱𝖮𝖬 𝗧𝗘𝗫𝗔𝗦 𝖳𝖮 𝗟𝗔 ‧₊˚🧯
❝ 𝒘𝒐𝒘 okay, you are 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒂𝒍𝒍. ❞

❝ 𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆. ❞ Isabella mumbled, rubbing at her eyes as she walked into the kitchen where both her dad and Chris were standing.

"Morning, Bell." Eddie quickly moves around the counter to kiss the top of his daughter's head. "I have to get to the fire station for my first shift. School starts tomorrow for you both. Find something to occupy you both."

"What is that smell?" Isabella scrunches her nose at the smell of something burning.

Chris giggles, "Dad tried to make breakfast but he burnt the toast."

"Chris! We said we wouldn't tell her." Eddie looks over at his son with a look of disbelief on his face.

Isabella rolls her eye at her dad, moving to the refrigerator, "Dad, you really need to stay out of a kitchen. I mean, you've burned water."

"Seriously? Both of my kinds ganging up on me?" Eddie looks between Isabella and Chris in disbelief.

"Don't want that to happen, maybe look into a cooking class." Isabella joked as she pulled out a carton of eggs, closing the refrigerator. "Chris, how about eggs and pancakes?"

"Star shaped?"

"I think I can make that happen." Isabella smiles, "Wanna help crack the eggs?"

"Yeah!"

Eddie smiles at the sight of his children, moving around the kitchen together. "Okay, I have to go. Call me if either of you need anything. And if you leave the house, make sure Chris is in the backseat and in a seatbelt, and drive safely."

"I know, dad." Isabella looks up from where she was watching Chris whisk at the eggs with a fork, "Go before you're late. We're okay here."

"I'm serious Isabella Sloane, you call me if anything happens." Eddie points at his seventeen-year-old before walking towards the front door, "I love you, both!"

"We love you!"

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𝐄𝐃𝐃𝐈𝐄 𝐊𝐄𝐄𝐏𝐒 his eyes on the view of Los Angeles as he rides in the back of the Firetruck with his new team, his mind wondering to what his two children were getting up to at the moment.

He knew that they would both be okay, especially since Isabella was so used to watching and helping take care of her little brother.

"So, Silver Star, huh?" Chimney's voice breaks his concentration, causing him to turn his head to look at the three in the back of the firetruck with him.

"Yeah.

"You save a platoon or something?" He asked.

"No, no, nothing like that." Eddie denied, "Uh, just a convoy."

Chimney smirked in astonishment.

"Eddie, uh, you heard about the hot firefighter calendar?" Hen asked him, talking loud enough so that he could hear her better."

"Sorry, what?" Eddie looks at her in confusion.

Hen has a gigantic smile on her face as she keeps her grip on the handle, "It's for charity."

Up front, Bobby laughs at his firefighters.

"So, is your full name Eduardo?" Buck questioned the new firefighter, a spark of anger taking over as everyone had already taken a liking to the new recruit.

Eddie chuckled, "No."

"People ever call you "Diaz"?"

"Not if they want me to respond."

"Something's gotta give." Buck kept going, Chimney and Hen glancing over at each other in amusement. "We got . . . we got Cap, Hen, chimney, Buck. We can't just call you "Eddie".

Eddie turns his head to look at Hen, "I can't tell if he's being serious or not."

"I like to always operate under the assumption that nothing he says is serious." Chimney chimed in, getting laughs from the others.

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❝ 𝐘𝐎𝐔'𝐑𝐄 𝐆𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐆 to get dizzy if you don't stop spinning in that chair. ❞ Isabella doesn't even look up from organizing her vanity, making sure all of her makeup and other things were where she wanted them to me.

"I won't get dizzy!" Chris denied with a laugh as he kept spinning in the hanging chair that she had her dad put up the night before.

"Whatever you say." She giggled just as there's a knock on her open bedroom door, "Hey, dad."

"Hey, kiddos. Want pizza for dinner?" Eddie asked, leaning against the doorway.

"Sure."

"Hey, uh, Bell, have you unpacked your camera yet?"

Isabella turns her head to look at her father in confusion, "My camera was the first thing that I unpacked. Why?"

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𝐁𝐔𝐂𝐊𝐒 𝐋𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐒 the weights in the gym at the fire station, Eddie working on the punching bag just behind him. Buck turns his head to glance at Eddie just as he spun around and kicked at the black and red bag, moving to grab more weights.

Chimney walked over to the gym, smiling in amusement at how jealous Buck was being because of Eddie.

Eddie turns his head just as Buck was holding his phone up with a selfie stick attached to it, flexing as he took a picture, "You're in the wrong light, man."

"Some of us don't need lighting to look good." Buck tells him as he checks himself out in the phone camera.

Chimney drops down from the machine he was doing pull ups on and walked over to where Eddie was standing, "Hey, Eddie, what'd you mean by "the wrong light"?"

Eddie looks up at the lights, "The light in this room is flat and blue. Makes you look soft. If you want to look lean and muscles to pop, you need warm side light. I'll show you." He moves to grab his phone, going into the camera roll to pull up the pictures Isabella had sent to him.

Buck walks over to look at the pictures.

"These are the ones I sent in for the calendar."

"Wow."

"It's, uh, kind of cheating submitting pictures by a professional photographer." Buck walks away from the two.

Eddie chuckled at the blonde, "Uh, the "professional photographer" is sixteen-year-olds old. She's been carrying a camera around since she was twelve. Wants to get into photography professionally one day. I just gotta get her out of high school first."

"Your daughter did this? You think she'd be willing to take my submission pics for me?" Chimney asked. "I'm told I photograph like an Asian Fabio."

"Yeah, she'd love the practice." Eddie shrugged, "I'll shoot her a text."

"Ah, you know, you really shouldn't get his hopes up like that." Buck grunts as he lifts smaller weights while he sits down, "No offence, Chem."

"No offense taken, Evan."

Eddie runs a hand through his sweaty hair, moving towards Buck, "What's your problem, man?"

Buck nodded, standing up, "Okay. You. You're my problem. Your comfort level. You're ── you're not supposed to just walk in here like you've been here for years. It's meant ── meant to be a getting-to-know-you period. You're meant to respect your elders."

"You're not his elder, Buck."

"Look, I in no way meant to, uh, be too familiar or step on anybody's toes." Eddie holds his hands up in surrender, "I know you're going through some personal stuff right now."

"What personal stuff?"

"I know your girlfriend recently broke up with you and you're coming to terms with that."

"No, I'm not." Buck denied it, "And she didn't break up with me. Who told you that?" He looked over at Chimney.

"I'm just saying, I hear you're a good guy, and . . . I'm sorry you're going through pain, but you don't need to take it out on me or ── or be threatened by me." Eddie tells him, "We're on the same team."

"Why would I be threatened by you?"

"Exactly." Eddie grinned, "There's no need to be. We do the same thing. I've just done it while people are shooting at me is all."

"We're not broken up!"

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𝐋𝐎𝐔𝐃 𝐕𝐎𝐈𝐂𝐄𝐒 fill Isabella's ears as she walked down the hallway of the high school she was going to do her Senior year, a confused frown on her face as she looked at the room numbers.

"You look a little lost." Someone spoke from behind her, causing her to jump slightly as she turned around, cranking her neck up to look at the dark-haired boy who seemed to tower over her figure with his height. "Shit, I didn't ── I didn't mean to scare you."

"Wow, okay, you are really tall."

He chuckled, holding his hand out, "I'm Asher. You must be the new girl that everyone's talking about around here."

"Yeah, uh, Isabella." She shook his head, with an awkward smile as she tucked a piece of her straight hair behind her ear.

"Well, new girl, what class are you trying to find?" Asher asked, tucking his hands in the front pockets of his jeans.

"Uh, I'm looking for . . . Ms. Montgomery, Calc."

"Hmm, I'm not smart enough for that class." Asher joked with the shorter girl as he looked around, "But my girlfriend has the class. Kacey!"

"Hey." The tall, curly haired girl bounced over to the two, wrapping her arms around the boy's waist, "Oh, who's this?"

"This is Isabella. She's the new girl everyone's gossiping about." Asher wrapped his arm around the girls' shoulders.

"Oh, well, welcome to Hawkins High! The school where all of the Wanna-Be Brittney Spears live and breathe. I'm Kacey, Asher's girlfriend. Nice to meet you."

"Same." Isabella sends her a soft smile.

"Izzy here ── I'm calling you that, okay? Okay. Izzy here needs help getting to Montgomery's class for Calc."

"I'm headed that way now. I'll take you." Kacey smiles, looping her arm around Isabella's after kissing her boyfriend quickly, "I'll see you at lunch."

"Yeah. Bring our new friend with you!"

"So, boyfriend's pretty tall." Isabella smirked as she looked around the hallway around her.

"Yeah, he's whole family is pretty tall." Kacey says with a smile before it falls, "You aren't one of those pretty girls who steals their new friend's boyfriend she met first, right?"

"Oh, God, no." The Diaz girl shakes her head, "He's not my type anyway."

"Oh, well, Ms. Isabella, what is your type?"

"Blonde hair, blue eyes."

"Hmm, I have a blonde hair, blue eyes friend named Alex. He would be perfect for you."

"Let me at least get used to the school before you try setting me up with anyone."

"Ugh, alright, fine."

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❝ 𝐇𝐄𝐘, 𝐇𝐄𝐘, Hey! ❞ A blonde teenage boy greets the firefighters as he excitedly walked into the lounge, "Sup, guys? Oh, you're new."

Hen laughs as she looks over at the teenager, "Aren't you supposed to be sick?"

"Listen, I threw up once, and now I'm better." The boy shrugged with a crooked smile before pointing towards Eddie, "You're new."

"Alex, this is Eddie Diaz." Buck points towards the new recruit as Alex falls back on the couch, his legs dangling over the edge, "Eddie, this is Bobby's son, Alex."

"Nice."

"Alright, everybody, listen up." Bobby walks up the stairs, "Alex, stop sitting on the couch like that."

"Sorry." The blonde sits up but keeps his focus on his dad."

"I just got off the phone with the people from the Calander, and they have made their choice." Bobby continues.

"Well, no hard feelings no matter who one." Buck holds his fist up, hitting it against Eddies.

"That's good, Buck, 'cause they didn't pick you." Bobby tells him.

"Well, it's obviously a fix. Anyway, congratulations, GI!"

"Awe, Buck, just admit it. You're frown lines just couldn't make it." Alex joked with the guy his dad also saw as a son.

"I don't have frown lines!"

"They didn't pick him, either." Bobby has an amused look on his face.

"No? You?"

"No." Bobby chuckled just as a crunch rang out and everyone turned to where Chimney was munching on a celery stick and peanut butter.

Chimney takes another bite as he looks behind him to make sure there wasn't anyone standing behind him. "No way. You got to be kidding me."

"No. Congratulations, Chim." Bobby smiles as Eddy claps, "Or should I say. Mr. April?"

"No way. Are you serious?"

"Chimney!"

"That's what I'm talking about, baby!" Alex grinned, standing up from the couch.

"You're a Calander boy now. Mr. April, buddy."

"Thirty days of Chimney."

"So, Alex, wanna do a little one-on-one in basketball?" Buck claps the teenager on the shoulder.

"Nah, I'll smoke your ass anyway, Buck. You know that." Alex says making the others laugh.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." Athena, a police officer and Hen's best friend, calls out loudly as she walked towards the firefighters.

Everyone turns towards her as Bobby walks over to her.

"Hey, I'm sorry." Athena tells him before she's grabbing him by the side of the face to pull him into a kiss.

Alex smirked, looking down at the table before looking back up.

"What are you all looking at?" Bobby asked, "There's no more announcements."

"Buck! Where's my twenty?!" Alex called loudly, a groan leaving Bucks lips as he pulled his wallet out to slap the bill into his hand as Chimney passed Hen money of her own.

"Pay up!"

"Wait a minute, wait a minute, you both knew?" Bobby looked between his son and Hen.

Hen turns to them, "Sir, first you were happy at the same time, then you were both pissed off at the same time. It wasn't hard to figure out."

"And, uh, you're good with this?" Athen turns to her best friend.

"Girl, I'm just mad at myself for fixing you up in the first place."

Bobby turned to Alex, who was now sitting on the counter, "What about you? You good? And how did you figure it out?"

"You thought I didn't know?" Alex scoffed, "Please, the two of you weren't as slick as you thought you were, dad. And to answer your first question, yeah, I'm good with it. You're happy, so I'm happy."

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❝ 𝐇𝐄𝐘, 𝐊𝐈𝐃. ❞ Eddie finds his daughter moving around the kitchen as she made dinner, "How was your first day of school?"

Isabella shrugged as she put a lid on top of the boiler for the spaghetti noodles, "It was okay. I made a couple of friends that helped me get to my classes. I have a teacher who doesn't wear shoes . . . . which is nasty, but you do you brother."

A chuckle escapes Eddie's lips as he pushes himself of the counter he leaned on, "Where's your brother?"

"Should be in his room."

"Okay, I'm gonna shower before dinner."

"Okay!"

────୨ৎ────

❝ 𝐒𝐎, 𝐖𝐇𝐎 won that calendar for your station? ❞ Isabella has her head resting in her dad's lap, as Eddie ran his fingers through his hair, both of their attention on the movie playing on the TV before she had to go to sleep for school.

"Chimney. The one you took the pictures for." He tells her, looking down at her to see that her eyes were slowly fluttering closed.

"That's good. We need a little more Asian culture around here."

Eddie chuckled, "Bella, go get in your bed."

"Will you carry me?"

"Just this one time." He grunts as he picked his daughter and carrying her into her bedroom and laying her in the bed, covering her up.

"Dad."

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

Eddie smiles softly, leaning down to kiss her forehead, "I love you too, Bells."