𝐈 𝐁𝐞𝐭 𝐎𝐧 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐃𝐨𝐠𝐬 - 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐠𝐨 𝐅𝐢𝐫𝐞

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞

10 years ago...

Ash had just been born the day before and Andy was finally able to visit his little sister in the hospital and hold his newborn nephew for the first time. Katrina couldn't help but smile at her big brother as she watched him hold her newborn baby boy, Andy smiled warmly as he looked down at Ash who was fast asleep in his arms. After a few moments of silence, Katrina spoke up.

"Would you like to know his name?," the tired but happy teenager asked from her place in the hospital bed. Andy's head perked up, his green eyes were soft as he nodded.

"Yes," he answered, still holding his newborn nephew.

"His name is Asher Andrew Darden," Katrina told him.

Andy's jaw dropped as he stared at his baby sister with wide eyes, not sure if he had heard her correctly. Now it was all starting to make sense as to why Kat refused to tell him what her baby's name was until now. It was because her baby had his name as his middle name. Andy looked down at the still sleeping baby before he looked at his sister once again.

"Are you serious?," he questioned, "You're not bullshitting me?"

"No bullshit," Katrina confirmed, chuckling as she watched her older brother. "Ash is named after the best big brother I could have ever asked for.

Katrina was suddenly snapped back to reality by Gabby waving a hand in front of her face with a slight look of concern. The Dawson woman tilted her head as she sighed a little bit, staring at the blonde woman in front of her before she spoke.

"I'm getting worried about you, Kat, you've been spacing out a lot more than usual lately," Gabby expressed as she sat next to Katrina. "Mind telling me what's going on in that pretty little head of yours?"

"Ash's birthday is coming up, this is gonna be his first birthday celebration without Andy being there...," Katrina sighed as she took a bite out of her apple, "It's going to be so weird for him, not having his uncle there for his 10th birthday."

"Oh, Kat," Gabby sighed, her brown eyes softening, a glimmer of empathy shining through like the bright light of a lighthouse during a dark and miserable night out at sea. Katrina sighed, taking another bite of her apple.

The Darden woman simply gave the paramedic a small smile, feeling a slight flutter in her heart when she made eye contact with Gabby. However, the moment was short lived as the alarm blared, signaling that Squad 51 and the rescue squad was needed for a house fire. Katrina sighed as she tossed her apple into a trashcan nearby and looked at her work crush.

"Duty calls," Katrina said as she grabbed her helmet and other gear before getting into the truck with the rest of her coworkers and speeding off to the location of the fire.

Once they arrived at the location they climbed out, the air reeked of what Katrina knew was grease as she, Casey, and Otis went down to the basement where the fire was. The Darden woman kicked down the door, revealing a man staring at a small stove that was burning like a stake. Kat sighed a bit as she turned to her other coworkers before putting out the fire.

"Anything to piss off the engine," Otis grumbled as Casey tried to escort the shaken man out of the building but he refused to leave.

"My hot plate caught on fire, my landlord will kill me and I got no other place to go," the man pleaded, Kat's heart broke as she looked at the man and then at Casey before she glanced around the room and saw the damaged microwave and an idea came to her head.

Katrina gently helped the man up without saying anything, slinging his arm over her shoulder as she began to walk out of the building and over to the woman the man had said was his landlord, and boy did she look beyond pissed.