Cruz digs through one of the boxes Tatia sitting next to him looking through another. She was wearing her dad's old Chicago bears baseball cap that she just found, it was a little big but Joe tightened it for her. She comes across a shoe box with "Letters for Tatia" written on top of it. No one ever mentioned this to her.
"Uncle Joe, what's this?" She lifts the box. He looks down at it. He forgot all about those.
"You're dad wrote letters for you. I forgot all about them."
"Can I read them now?" she asks opening the box they were neatly stacked up each one labeled.
"Actually they're for big moments in your life. But I do think there are some pick-me-up ones and you can read one now or save them for when you really need it. But there should be a thumb drive that you should listen to tonight." Joe says. She looks down at the box. She only has so many of the letters so maybe she should save them for a really bad time.
"I'll wait. But can I listen to the thumb drive?"
"Yeah, it should be in that box. Why don't you find it and I'll keep looking for that photo album?"
"Okay." Tatia begins carefully moving around the envelopes. She finds the thumb drive with a piece of tape on it. "I found it."
"Then let's go listen to it huh?" Joe stands up grabbing her hand to pull her up. They walk out to where his laptop sat on the table. He opens it and lets Tati sit on his knee as he plugs in the drive. "Ready Mija?"
"Yeah." She says and he clicks play.
"I don't know what to say. This is take number 100 if I had to take a guess." Otis' voice surrounds her, nothing else matters as she listens closely tears forming in her eyes. Cruz was barely holding himself together, listening to his best friend's voice for the first time in 3 months. She stares at the wallpaper on the computer a photo of Otis, Cruz, and her last year at her school Christmas play. "I guess I'll start here it is 2018 you are 8 years old and the smartest kid I know. Even if you're also the second biggest troublemaker I know, Annabelle being the first. I'm recording this so you never forget my voice, and well this is more personal than my podcast. Just to you from me. I just wanted to make sure you always know I love you so much, Tater tots. I'm so damn proud of you and always will be. Я тебя люблю Будь добр к своему дяде Cruz. Love, Dad." And it ends. (Translation: I love you, Be kind to your uncle)
"Why don't you keep this and the letters in your room? So you can listen or read them whenever you need to." Joe suggests to the young girl who wipes her tears away. He doesn't bother asking what the Russian words mean.
"Yes please."
"Okay."
"Can I listen to his podcast? Where he talks about the job and stuff." Tatia asks him.
"Uh yeah. I'll load a few of the episodes onto your tablet so you can listen to them whenever you want." Joe tells her smiling.
"Thanks, uncle Joe can we keep looking for the photo album?"
"Yeah come on kiddo." Joe stands her up ruffling her hair and follows her back to his room. They find the photo album before too long and go into the living room to look through it. "If you want any of them copied let me know and we'll set them aside," Joe says opening the book that sat on his lap. Tati sat beside him leaning into him so she can see the book.
"Yep!" She says looking at the photos on the first page. "There's mom! Why haven't I seen this photo?" she asks pointing to a photo with her parents in it. Her mom stands in front of 81 grinning Otis standing next to her. he was an 8-month-old Tatiana who was in a onesie that said: "Future firefighter just like my daddy" he was also grinning.
"This book was hidden deep in his closet. He probably forgot all about it." Joe says looking down at his niece.
"I know they weren't together but did they love each other?" Tati looks up at her uncle.
"Yeah. They weren't in love but they loved each other. Otis was always happier when your mom and you were around." Joe smiles.
"Okay next page." Tatia switches pages letting her eyes graze over the photos before they land on one. It was Mouch and Herrmann on the couch in the common room with a 4-month-old Tatia sleeping on Mouch's lap. "I was so tiny." She giggles pointing at the photo.
"Yeah. You were and you grew so fast. You used to fit inside a helmet." Cruz chuckles.
"Is that you?" she points at a photo in the corner of the page. She was in the common room of the firehouse with a party hat and a birthday cake with three lit candles on top of it. Joe stood next to her with Otis on the other side.
"Yeah."
"Oh, you look funny with hair," Tatia says. Her eyes fall onto a photo where she's being held by a guy she only vaguely remembers. Mostly in photos hanging up in the firehouse. He was sitting on the floor of 81 his legs hanging out of the doorway as he grins with Casey behind him sitting on the seat and leaning forward a smile painting his face. Severide stood outside the rig his middle and pointer finger being tightly held by a 5-month-old Tati. "Who is he?"
"That's Andy Darden. He uh died a little over a year after your mom." He says looking at the photo. "Hey let's get this copied I don't think severide and Casey have a copy of it," Cruz suggests.
"Yeah!" She says as he pulls the photo out and sets it on the end table. She changes pages and looks down at a photo of her mom holding her as she is next to Baba and Otis. She was almost a year old and holding a present. Her and her parents were wearing matching pajamas and Otis had a Santa hat. "I want this one copied." She says looking over at her uncle.
"That's a good one." He smiles putting the photo with the other. He looks down at one photo. Boden was holding a 4-year-old Tati as he sat at his desk. He was holding up a drawing Tatia did of him. You could see the faintest smile on his face. Tatia wasn't paying attention to the camera already working on her next masterpiece. "See Mija you even have Chief wrapped around your finger."
"He has that drawing in his office! I saw it!"
"Yeah? I think almost everyone at 51 has at least one drawing you did hanging in their locker." He says. He's not wrong even Ritter got one when he joined the gang. Gallo doesn't have one though. Partly because Tati didn't draw as much now and Partly cause she still wasn't fully warmed up to him.
"Really? They kept them?"
"Yeah."
"See I knew Trish was full of -" He gives her a look. "Crap." she alters the word quickly.
"You're a good kid."
"You're just now realizing this?"
"I love you." Joe chuckles squeezing her.
"Love you too."
–––That Wednesday–––
Tatiana rarely joins the morning briefing even when she does stay a full shift. So when Herrmann told her to join she was confused. It was all cleared up after he explains his plan to everyone. Then after the briefing, he asked Cruz and Her if she would mind joining. She agreed immediately though Cruz was more hesitant but agreed because Tatia made a very compelling argument. Which was "He's my dad I should be there." Cruz couldn't argue with that logic. That's how they got here.
Tatiana climbs out of Chief's SUV and looks out at where the guys were moving Herrmann's new couch around. Once the couch is in place Herrmann looks at her. He thinks for a moment before waving her over.
"Tati come here!" He hollers.
"What?" She asks once she gets to him.
"You want to stand up here with me for this?" Herrmann asks kneeling to be at eye level with her. "You don't have to it's your choice." she looks at Joe who shrugs.
"Yeah, I'll be up here."
"Okay perfect." Everyone goes back to stand in front of the rigs while Tatia stands in front of Herrmann with his hands on her shoulder. The couch behind them. "This is how you stand up for what you believe in without using violence." He whispers before noticing the nice sedan pulling up.
"Mr. Carrington.." Herrmann says as the CEO climbs out of the car.
"That's right."
"Uh-huh. We've been trying like hell to get a moment with you." Herrmann says glancing at Tatia who was holding a death glare on Mr. Carrington.
"I understand that, but I have a 9:00 meeting and, well." Carrington walks up closer showing him his watch. He seemed unbothered by the young girl whose eyes wouldn't leave him.
"Don't worry. This won't take long."Herrmann's hands leave tatia's shoulders as he pulls a match from his pocket and lights it stepping back. Tatia looks back at him watching. As he walks back over after throwing the match on the couch. She grabs his hand after he gets back and he gives it a reassuring squeeze before continuing, "This is your Summer Series model, it retails for $599."
"Listen, I understand you folks have some concerns about our products, but I don't have time right now to talk to you about it," Carrington says getting cut off as the couch bursts into flames.
"We see a lot of close calls in our line of work. How soon we can get to a victim, how fast we can get some poor shot kid to the ER. Most the time their fate, whether they live or die, comes down to a matter of seconds." Herrmann begins his rant after a few seconds. Tatia was no longer glaring at Carrington as she looks at the fire on the couch. Just how fast it burnt, her dad was gone because of the materials that the couch is made of. "See, one of your young customers, they left a candle burning a little too close to your sofa for less than one minute. She suffered burns on over 25% of her body."
"See, time. I hope you understand that in the space of a single heartbeat, my friend Brian saved the lives of me and six other firefighters in your factory fire, but that heartbeat was... his last." Herrmann says Tatiana looks forward at the man. "He was as good a person as you could ever hope to know."
"The best dad ever," Tatiana adds tears running down her face.
"Arnow Furniture has made an ongoing commitment to-" he's cut off by Herrmann. It was clear by the look on his face he felt guilty.
"I know, I know you're in compliance. I know you're very careful to make sure that your furniture meets the minimum safety standards. But what? What kind of goal is that? Bare minimum?" Herrmann asks sighing and looking down at Tatiana before back at Carrington. "Look we're not asking for a miracle here. We know you gotta make a buck. We just want you to take care of your customers. Okay? Give 'em more than just a nice piece of furniture. Give those people a fighting chance. Because... every single second counts. I thank you for your time and I hope that we didn't make you late for your meeting." Herrmann turns around Tatiana following suit keeping a safe distance from the fire.
"Okay, guys. Let's knock this down, pack it up." Herrmann says as Cappl and Tony come over with fire extinguishers. Everyone returns to the rigs. Tatiana runs to Joe.
"Hey, Mija." Joe says as she hugs him. "You okay?"
"Yeah. Just needed a hug... I miss dad." She mumbles into his shirt.
"hey after shift? How about we spend the day doing a ton of this your dad used to like, and we can go see his badge." Cruz says smiling.
"Yeah, can we go see Grandma and Baba?"
"Of course Mija. And when we get back to 51 I have some of your dad's podcast loaded into your tablet you can listen to it."
"Really? Thank you Uncle Joe You're the best!"
"Don't I know it? Now, do you want to ride with Squad or chief? You could even ask Herrmann or Casey to ride with them."
"Squad."
"You got it. Now come on." Cruz says walking toward the rig and pulling her into his side. "And in you go." He lifts her into the squad rig.
"Ooh VIP in the rig." Capp grins helping Tati in.
"Tati I thought you were too good to ride with us after you choose chief." Tony laughs as Cruz climbs into the rig.
"Chief didn't give me an option," Tati says shrugging and buckling her seat.
"It was for the best Capp was being annoying anyway." Joe laughs looking back at them.
"Hey!"
Okay, Chapter 8 is done!