Tarlos' Greatest Adventure

'Cause we are just gonna do it every time

When the ambulance reached the hospital, the boy on the stretcher wouldn't stop crying until TK went with him into the emergency room where he would be assessed.

"Nance, I am not allowed to go with him?" TK asks Nancy as he hangs on the back of the ambulance that stopped in front of the children's ER inpatient entrance.

The boy who was in the fire wouldn't stop crying as nurses tried to wrap his burn wounds while the crew was standing outside the hospital.

"TK, go with him and then we'll see if someone from the police can find his parents." Nancy almost shoved him out while the boy was fighting for his life with burn wounds, a broken leg, and wet pants on the stretcher.

TK gets out of the ambulance and glances at the boy who is reaching out for his hand.

"Hi, I'm TK. I bandaged up your arm in the big blue truck. What is your name, buddy?" TK says to him while he's being wheeled back to a room with his oxygen mask on that Nancy gave him in the ambulance.

TK had not been notified about the boy losing his grandparents in the fire.

The little boy was in too much pain and had an oxygen mask over his face. He was too scared to respond to the stranger who sat in the ambulance taking his vitals.

An hour away at a local library, Carlos sat in a comfy chair studying his detective's test textbook.

All of a sudden his phone starts to ring in the middle of the lounge, causing him to curse at himself for not turning the ringer off earlier.

"Hey babe, are you still mad at me for not talking to you about the adoption center rejection email? I'm sorry. I've been exhausted from work and studying. I'll make it up to you tonight then we can talk about next steps." Carlos says as he walks to a coffee shop holding his backpack over his shoulder with his books.

"Babe, are you alone?" TK asks him from the hospital.

"I'm at a library coffee shop. Why does it sound like you are at a hospital, TK? What's that beeping sound behind you?" Carlos asks raising an eyebrow as he sits in a chair against a windowside table.

"I'm at the hospital. I have something to tell you, Carlos..." TK says while he walks down a hall to find a vending machine.

He is looking for some food for himself and the boy.

He didn't want to leave the children's ER floor to go to the cafeteria so he stayed where he was while the boy was sleeping in a room while a nurse was doing his vitals.

"Tyler, you are scaring me. What happened? Are you injured? Baby, I'm going to the parking lot now. What hospital are you at?" Carlos says quickly while his heart rate goes up.

"Carlos, let me finish talking. I'm not at the hospital for me. I'm here for a little boy. He was injured and burned in this market fire. He wouldn't stop crying until I stayed in the hospital with him. I know I am not supposed to do that. His grandparents are dead and the police are looking for parents or relatives he has. I signed paperwork so he could get the x-rays he needs. Carlos, he may be an orphan." TK says while holding the phone to his ear with his shoulder and tries to get snacks out of the vending machine.

TK has rambled so much to Carlos that he didn't realize that his hands were shaking.

He is stressed, tired from the last 24 hours, and unsure of what to do with the boy who was in the fire.

"Babe, breathe with me for a second. Inhale and exhale. We can figure this out together. Does the boy have a name?" TK wasn't sure why Carlos was so calm with him about this.