Inferno

~39~ My Dad

Luke's POV

This morning I wake up and get ready. I get to spend the next 8 hours at the firehouse. Somebody just kill me. I go downstairs and dad is there, drinking coffee, as he finishes packing his bag. He still doesn't have his shirt on.

"Ellie Jane, I'm running behind. Can you grab my shirt, please?" He asks as he throws his phone charger in his bag.

"I don't think anybody would mind if you just went to work like that. I know I wouldn't" she says, smacking him on his butt.

"Don't get fresh with me, woman" he says, with a smirk as he throws a towel at her.

He sees me standing there and he immediately loses his smile. That hurt. He's still his normal self around everybody but me.

Mom brings him his shirt and he kisses her. "Thanks, darling" he says as he gets it on.

"You ready?" Mom asks, looking at me hard. She's still not happy with me either.

"Yeah" I say quietly. "Can I ride with Liam?" I ask mom. I see dad shake his head angrily out of the corner of my eye. He didn't like that at all.

"No. Liam left already to take Savannah to school" mom says, quietly.

I roll my eyes and sigh.

"Ready?" Dad asks, without even looking at me.

I say nothing as I follow him out. We say nothing as we drive to the station. Dad even turns up the radio. He must be over the silence.

We get in and I stand in the common room awkwardly. I don't know where to go, and I don't want to ask dad.

He notices I'm not following behind him after a while, and stops. "What are you doing?" He asks annoyed.

I just look at him. I don't know what I'm doing anymore.

"Come on" he says, losing his patience.

I continue to follow him into his office. I sit down and stare out the window. This is going to be a LONG day.

Dad is working on paperwork for a few minutes when Greene comes in.

"Roll call Chief?" He asks, confused.

Dad looks up surprised. "Ah, crap. Yeah. I'm coming" he says standing up and grabbing his clip board.

He leaves silently and doesn't come back for about 20 minutes.

He comes back and doesn't even look at me. An hour of silence goes by.

"Chief, can I talk to you for a minute?" Nora asks from the doorway.

Dad looks up and smiles at her. "Sure. Is this private?" He asks, glancing at me.

"Ummmm, well, no he can stay" she says, embarrassed.

"What's going on, Nora?" He asks, concerned by her tone.

"I, uh, I was wondering if I could talk to you about transferring" she says, looking down at the ground.

"What? Why?" He asks, going over and closing the door.

"I'm just ready for a change, Chief" she says, looking like she could cry.

"Tell me what's going on" dad says, worried. The way he's talking to her, makes me sad. I don't get that side of dad. I just get the rough side.

She sighs and shakes her head. "I'm not trying to cause trouble, sir. Can't we just leave it as me needing a change?" she asks, seriously.

"No. I won't sign transfer papers without knowing the real reason" dad says, his voice still gentle.

She sighs and starts to cry. "Nora, what's wrong?" He asks as he puts his hand on her shoulder.