The Hard Move
Bailey hadn't been pleased about having to go back to the Hubbards for one more night after hearing that TK and Carlos had been granted guardianship of her. But, she did recognize that the situation required a bit of gentle handling. TK and Carlos had driven her home, promising to be there the moment Sable let them know that the Hubbards had been informed of the custody transfer. Most of the members of the 126 had offered to help move Bailey's things so that the promise was as quick and painless as possible, though nobody expected the Hubbards to let things go quietly. They had been annoyed that Bailey was spending time at the fire house in the first place, to learn that two of them had gained custody would only arouse more upheaval. Because the Hubbards were already in the process of moving, the house had a large amount of boxes strewn about. Bailey had also packed most if not all of her things and had labeled them thoroughly so that her things would be easily found.
The next morning TK wasn't surprised to see a text from Bailey around 8:30 in the morning, right as he was sitting down with his coffee.
Bailey: Sable just got here, shouldn't be long before you get a call.
TK: We're ready, Judd is going to be there any minute with his truck. Paul, Marjan, and Mateo are on stand-by not far from you and Tommy will be here when we get back.
TK and told Owen about what was happening but he had an appointment with this oncologist and couldn't reschedule. He had all but demanded that TK send him updates as the day went on.
TK: Are you packed?
Bailey: Pretty much, just packing up the last of my bathroom stuff and a few more art supplies. I just want this whole thing to be done.
TK nodded as he read Bailey's text, she was almost ready and that meant they were one step closer to getting her out of there.
"Thank you Sable, we are walking out of the house right now," Carlos' voice caught TK's attention. He looked over to where his boyfriend was standing, his phone to his ear. "Yup, we will see you soon. Bye."
Carlos pushed his phone into his pocket and looked up at TK.
"Time to go." He said.
Though TK was ready something in Carlos' tone made him move just a bit faster, pouring his coffee in a thermos and scurrying out the door behind his boyfriend. As soon as the car doors were shut Carlos was pulling out of the driveway.
"Carlos, what did Sable say?" TK asked, worried they were driving into a firing zone.
"She said that the Hubbards weren't happy when she told them about the guardianship transfer and that we needed to get there and get Bailey ASAP." He said, probably going a bit faster than the intended speed limit.
TK exhaled heavily.
"I'll text the others and let them know to be ready to move fast." He said, but looked over at his boyfriend first, taking his hand and squeezing it. "Let's go get our girl."
Carlos smiled.
✵✵✵
Everybody knew to come ready for a fight, but they didn't expect what they found. Having been closer than everybody else, Judd had gotten their first. By the time TK and Carlos pulled up he was already taking boxes from the lawn and pushing them into the bed of his truck. Bailey was running back and forth with boxes, trying to move them quickly.
"Bailey." TK called.
Bailey stopped halfway back to the house and looked back toward the road, seeing TK and Carlos hurrying over to her.
"Why are you moving so fast?" TK asked. "Take a second, you don't want to overheat."
Bailey's face was red and she was sweating. She shook her head and stumbled.
"N-no, gotta get outta here, please." She stuttered.
Carlos caught her shoulder before she fell over. TK looked over at Judd who had begun walking towards them.
"Open the passenger side," TK said, helping Carlos move Bailey over to the truck. "Put the AC on full."
Judd's gate stuttered as he jogged back to his truck and followed TK's directions. Carlos took the brunt of Bailey's weight when they lifted her into the truck. TK climbed in first and as soon as Bailey was in, Carlos closed the passenger door before opening the back and climbing in himself and shutting the door. TK fiddled with the AC controls and the vents to make sure that Bailey was getting all the air possible. Bailey's breathing was labored and her cheeks were bright red. Her phone was alerting constantly and TK was watching the numbers fluctuate.
"Why are you in such a hurry?" TK asked.
Bailey took a few deep breaths before she tried to speak.
"Sable's inside with them," She breathed, her eyes moving toward the house. "They're mad."
TK nodded.
"Yeah, we expected that," Carlos spoke up, leaning over into the front so that he could see Bailey. "But why are you pushing yourself so hard?"
Bailey shook her head.
"I just want to leave here." She said, a tear dripping down her face.
TK wiped it away gently and smiled.
"You're getting out of here, but let's get you home instead of to the ER, okay?" He said.
Bailey smiled weakly and nodded. Her temp was definitely better but with her cheeks still flushed TK wanted her in the car for a bit longer.
"Is all of your stuff in your room?" Carlos asked.
Bailey nodded.
"It's all labeled." She said.
"Okay, you stay here and finish cooling down and we are going to finish moving your stuff out. Judd is going to be right outside loading boxes." Carlos said.
Bailey nodded, letting herself sink into the seat. TK slid out of the driver's side and Carlos got out of the back. Judd stood against the side of his truck, watching the house with a keen eye.
"Whatever is going on in there is not pleasant." He said, jutting his chin at the house.
"What makes you say that?" Carlos asked.
"The wife keeps peeking her head around the curtains and she looks pissed. I've seen your social worker a couple times; she has a face like she's trying to defuse a bomb." Judd said.
TK sighed.
"Well this should be fun." He muttered.
A car horn sounded once and Carlos swiveled his head to see Paul, Marjan, and Mateo pulling up behind Judd's truck. They were quick to pile out.
"What's going on?" Paul asked. "Why is Bailey in the truck?"
"She was overheating so she's cooling down but we have to do this fast because the Hubbards are not happy." Carlos said.
Marjan nodded.
"Okay, just tell us where to go and we'll go." She said.
"Carlos and I are going to keep bringing boxes out, Marjan we could use your help with that. Paul and Mateo help Judd load boxes into his truck and here are the keys for our car if you need it." TK said, slipping the car keys out of the pocket of Carlos' basketball shorts and passing them to Paul.
Marjan nodded and clapped.
"Let's do this." She said.
TK has mildly apprehensive when he first pushed the front door of the house open. From the outside, though tense, things seemed quite. That was not the case inside. Two clear, loud voices could be heard ringing through the house and poor Sable was trying to mediate.
"You can't just take her like this. What are we supposed to do?" Rachel Hubbard's voice was high and loud.
"Ma'am, I understand your displeasure but we have to do what is best for Bailey here. And after reviewing her case and speaking to her I believe that moving her out of Austin would not be the best choice." Sable reasoned.
"She's sixteen, she doesn't know one thing about what's best for herself." Mr. Hubbard, who Bailey had said was name was Joseph, spoke next and what he said made TK roll his eyes.
He and Carlos had made their way through the kitchen and for a moment they were able to see the living room. Without meaning to, TK made eye contact with Rachel who was seething.
"Wait, you. You're the paramedic, right?" Rachel called.
Carlos looked back from ahead of him. TK gestured for him to keep going and TK walked into the living room.
"Yes ma'am, I was one of the paramedics who saved Bailey." TK said.
"What the hell do you think you're doing taking our daughter from us?" Rachel asked.
"Ma'am?" TK asked.
"Bailey can't stop talking about you and your boyfriend and the rest of the people at that fire house. I should have known that you would try and worm her away from her family." Rachel said, shaking her head.
"Ma'am, I didn't worm her away. Bailey is miserable here; she loves being at the fire house and loves every member of the 126. If you care about her at all then you will let her go and be with people who want more for her than just the check that you get in the mail every month. She is a smart, curious, talented, strong-willed, beautiful young lady who will no doubt grow up to take on the world. And if my boyfriend and I can help her along that path then I am grateful that I get to do that. But you cannot stand here with your crocodile tears and try and tell me that you're mad about anything other than losing a portion of your income." TK said.
Joseph scoffed.
"You keep saying that we just have her here for the check like you won't be getting the same thing," He said. "You're telling me that you won't be using that check?"
TK shook his head.
"That money will be going into an account that will go to Bailey's college if she decides that she wants to go," He said. "And if she decides to do something else then that money will be available to her for whatever she may want or need it for." TK continued, the monthly check had been a discussion between he and Carlos once, and they both knew that that money would be better suited for Bailey's future over anything they could use it for. "You can be angry, that's fine but you do not get to chalk it up to being upset that you're losing Bailey when that's not the reason. I hope you all have a good life, now I'm going to go and be with my family so that we can live ours. Sable, it was good seeing you and I will talk to you later."
TK took his leave then, not wanting to hear what the Hubbards' retaliation to that would be, he had no interest in their half-ass excuses and lies. He met everybody out by the cars. Carlos met with halfway down the lawn.
"Are you okay?" Carlos asked, running his hands over TK's cheek before resting them on his shoulders.
"I'm fine, babe," TK said, giving him a smile. "Let's just get her home."
✵✵✵
Bailey was hopping from foot to foot as she looked around the room that Carlos had told her would be hers. She'd recovered fully from the brink of her drop and was now ready to work. The room that Carlos and TK had dubbed Bailey's had originally been a small guest room so there was already a bed and a few decorative items placed throughout the room. Not much, just a simple twin bed, a night stand, and a dresser.
"You have full creative liberty in here," Carlos said. "We figured you'd want to paint so we got some tarps and can go to the hardware store whenever you want."
Bailey's eyes were alight with excitement as they flitted around the room, no doubt thinking through what she wanted to do with the space.
"You're serious?" She asked, looking back at Carlos and TK.
"Yup." Carlos said.
"Everybody's here, might as well put them to work." TK laughed.
Bailey giggled and hopped around again. Carlos couldn't help but laugh, he loved to see Bailey so excited about building her space.
"So?" He asked. "What do you think? You think you'll be happy here?"
Bailey nodded enthusiastically.
"I'm so excited," She said and Carlos hugged her tight. "Thank you."
TK smiled and joined in on the hug, resting his head on top of Bailey's and loving the feeling of their little family.
"Let's go paint something." He whispered, eliciting another laugh from Bailey.
✵✵✵
The 126 had cleared their schedule for the day to help settle Bailey into her new home. Bailey had been worried at first since it was their day off and she didn't want to take their time away from them but they had insisted upon it. Painting had been a bit of a comedy show, and she wasn't sure if there had been more paint on the walls or the team once they'd finished. She'd decided on a light gray for three of the walls and she'd taken to painting a simple spiralized lacy design, painting it with white, light gray, and peach on the fourth wall. She'd taken longer on the fourth wall than everybody else had on the other three but it was worth it in the end when she stood back from her work and smiled.
"You are more artistic than everybody in this room combined." Marjan said, slinging an arm over Bailey's shoulder as they admired the work.
Bailey smiled.
"Thank you," She said. "That was fun."
Mateo was sitting behind them, a good amount of paint in his hair from where he'd gotten caught underneath TK while he was painting along the ceiling.
"Hey Mateo, I think you're going grey earlier than you'd planned." Bailey laughed.
Mateo shook his head, his mouth in a straight scowl.
"Yeah, laugh it up," He said. "You won't be talking when it's you with paint in your hair."
Bailey furrowed her brow.
"I'm an artist Mateo," She said. "Paint in my hair is pretty much a daily occurrence."
Mateo waved her off and went back to his sulking. Marjan couldn't help but laugh.
"Oh, perk up Probie, Charles is bringing lunch over." She reminded him, that got a smile out of him.
Charles had shown up not too long after they'd finished the second coat of paint in her new room with lunch piled in a couple of coolers. It was certainly one of the best meals that Bailey had ever had. She looked over at Tommy who was sitting happily next to her husband.
"Do you eat like this every day?" She asked.
Tommy chuckled.
"Not every day, but Charles does take on the cooking responsibility most of the time, yeah." She said.
"Lucky." Bailey laughed.
"Hey now, you like my BLTs." Carlos said.
Bailey nodded.
"Yeah, but I like anything with bacon in it." She said.
Carlos opened his mouth to quip back but he couldn't argue with that, Bailey did love her bacon. Not long after lunch, one by one the members of the 126 took their leave. TK and Carlos wanted to help Bailey fully unpack on their own, just a little bonding time for their small family. Bailey had taken to painting the shelves they'd found solid white instead of the black and grey that they originally had been. TK and Carlos were watching her on the back patio as she moved around the shelves.
"The paint should be dry enough to move boxes in now, Bails." He said, taking a step outside.
Bailey perked up at that.
"You think?" She asked.
Carlos looked back inside at the clock on the stove and shrugged.
"Yeah, it's been a few hours and we left the window open. I don't see why we can't start moving your boxes in." He said.
That only made Bailey more excited. She didn't have many things, needing to make sure that she could move around easily with how often she was moved from home to home. TK had tried to mount a couple shelves on the wall but Carlos had quickly taken over after TK nearly hammered his thumb instead of the nail.
"Okay, we aren't trying to have anybody end up in the ER today." He said, plucking the hammer out of TKs hand.
Bailey laughed as she pulled clothes out of her suitcase and folded them neatly into the dresser. TK scowled but moved to pick up a different box. When he opened it he was met with a pile or art supplies.
"Hey Bails, do you have a certain way you want this organized?" He asked.
Bailey looked up, peering into the box.
"Yeah, there should be a couple stackable drawers somewhere," She said, looking around for the box the drawers had been put into. "I took them apart to make things easier but the box might not have made it upstairs."
TK nodded.
"There were still a couple boxes in the car so I'll go look there." He said, standing up.
TK walked downstairs, grabbing the car keys before going outside to the driveway where the car was parked. The box was indeed in the back seat of the car but before he could reach in to pick it up something on the street caught his attention. There was an SUV parked across the street, one that he didn't recognize as belonging to somebody in the neighborhood. As to not draw attention to himself, TK quickly scooped up the box and shut the car door. As he walked back up to the house he kept an eye on the SUV, he thought he was being discreet but soon he saw movement in the driver's seat and the car was soon peeling away down the street.
"Weird." TK breathed.