last hurrah

“I try.” he mumbled. Declan wasn’t all that confident in his parenting or just being a dad in general. Granted he surpassed his own father by light-years and did what he could he still didn’t feel he wasn’t that great of a dad. The father of two always felt as if he could do more for them. Hearing Savannah say that though meant a lot, seeing as how she didn’t really pay him compliments all that often. Excitement was hard to conceal from the male as she finally agreed to tag along. “alright! Mom’s coming!” his tone elated, getting the two small children pumped up too. He watched as she moved to get the three coats, leaning down to the kids he held out his hands for the two to high five. “team work makes the dream work.” he whispered to them, laughter following suit. When his ex returned he stood up, helping zip up the coats. “I’d say subway is faster since we’re going to Manhattan.” he replied as he took his son’s tiny hand into his.”are we all ready?” He asked, making sure all heads were accounted for.

The two words he spoke made her tilt her head, almost wondering how he really felt about how he was as a dad. She couldn’t help but feel the same about how she was as a mom. It wasn’t easy when both parents had a job that could make them go on call at any time. They were lucky to balance it, but it wasn’t easy and it wore them thin. His excitement when she agreed made her pause for a moment, wondering if it really was a good idea. Butterflies formed in her stomach as she took a deep breath, zipping up her own coat. “True. I wasn’t thinking,” she gave a small face palm to show the minor stupidity. “I think we are. I don’t think I’m missing anything and they have their book bags, so we should be good for now. I need my gloves on, first. This weather is way too cold for me,” she scrunched her face as she slid them on, taking Brie’s hand once again. “Lead the way, sir.”

Declan’s smile grew again as he saw his daughter barreling down the narrow hallway. “Brie!” he exclaimed as he crouched, consumed the small girl in a bear hug. Standing back up he held onto both backpacks from his kids as he turned his attention back to heir mother.  “they are, you’re doing a good job.” he nodded, knowing he couldn’t take much credit on the upbringing of the twin boy and girl. That’s something that always bothered him. That the task of raising of the children fell mostly on his ex fiance’s shoulders due to his grueling work schedule. “well that’s good that it’s been pretty normal.” he awkwardly nodded, not really knowing what else to say.  Declan’s mouth scrunched to one side as she turned down the child’s invitation to go with them, knowing very well why she said no. “I guess mommy is just going to miss out on going to the children’s museum with us.” his tone was nothing but playful as he spoke to his offspring.” I mean it would be fun as a family…” he trailed off, letting his eyes fall back to Savannah, trying his best to muster some sort of puppy dog look.

A small smile formed from the simple compliment, her eyes lowering to the two kids they created together. “You do a good job, too.” She may have the kids more than he did for work reasons and now for their school situation, but she needed to remind him that he was a good father to them. He could have just not cared to see them, but he was always there, on time, and excited to see them. That was more than she could ever ask for in this situation. Hearing the kids start to beg, Savannah bit her lip as she looked back up at Declan. She didn’t know if she was wanting to do a family thing, but she knew that it would be healthy for the kids to have a healthy coparent situation, even though she didn’t know if she could mentally handle it. “I-Okay. Um, let me grab my things and their coats,” she gave a small nod as she kept her eyes on her ex for a moment longer, in hopes he didn’t think she was staring at him. Taking a deep breath she quickly moved away to gather everything, handing each coat to each twin, sliding into her own leather jacket and grabbing her bag. “Alright. Subway, bus or walk?” Savannah took the little girl’s hand, letting the boy be with his dad. 

Declan beamed from ear to ear as the door finally swung open exposing the child behind it. “hey little man!” he exclaimed as he swept his son up into his arms, kissing his cheek. “how ya been? you ready for a fun day with dad?” He asked the boy, his smile growing as the child nodded his head. Hearing Sav’s voice he looked up, setting little Declan down. She looked as beautiful as she did the day he met her. He cleared his throat as he stood back up, his back stiff as he wiped his hands on his blue jeans. “they’re becoming independent, I don’t know how I feel about that.” he joked, lightly laughing as he tried to break the ice with his ex. “I’m good, i’m good. How are you?” he awkwardly asked, knowing that the other could probably care less how he was doing so he kept it short. 

A small smile formed when she looked at the child’s excitement, hearing Brie run behind her, only for Savannah to move right in time before getting run over. “No running please.” The innocent looks that the woman was given made her raise her hands in a defending manner, letting them do what they wanted in the moment. “Yeah, it’s harder than I thought it would be, but that means they are being raised right,” she nodded, almost telling herself that instead of telling him. Dark eyes stayed on his as he answered the small question, biting her bottom lip. “Just a normal day of work and wrangling two kids. Nothing fancy or interesting,” she gave a small scrunch of her face as she thought for a moment. Sinking her brain back into reality, a small gasp came out as she heard her daughter beg her to go with them. “I can’t, sweetie. Mommy has to...do something. I don’t know what yet, but I can’t come.”

CLOSED STARTER // @savannah-chen​

Finally having the afternoon off after he just worked a 12 hour shift he left from the firehouse. He knew it was his day with the twins so habitually the man made the trek from work to the Bronx. Declan always got butterflies when it was time to pick up or drop of his kids. That meant he got to see Savannah which he always liked. He knew he had ruined any chances of being with the woman but that didn’t change how he felt towards the mother of his children. 

The train ride across the city seemed to take forever but it was worth it as he knew what was at the other end once he got off the underground system. A smile formed on his face as he found himself back above ground, feet hitting the pavement as he made his way to Savannah’s place.  eventually he stood on the woman’s stoop, ringing the bell to the woman’s home, waiting patiently as the cool winter air brushed against his face, reddening his cheeks.

Every time it was time to give the twins to their dad, Savannah truly wished that she could work all day. It was one of those times that she dreaded, but in order to be a good mom, she had to hand them over. And of course, she was running late from work that led to her not have much time with the twins before Declan came over. Which was a moment she dreaded on its own. It wasn’t easy to see the man that she was in love with, and still was, after knowing what he did to her and the kids. She still felt the ache that he gave her and it takes forever just for it to go away, only for them to see each other again to get the kids back to each other. She wasn’t in the mood for it today and she was hoping this would be quick and easy.

Helping them pack their bags, Sav gave a small sigh as she handed little Dec his toy to hold during the travel. “Never gets easier to give you guys to your dad,” she smiled softly, pressing her lips to the child’s head. “Is Brie ready? Daddy should be here any moment now. You can answer the door, okay?” Watching the child nod, Savannah nodded back as she moved from the one room to the other, making sure that the little girl was ready also. A part of her felt like she was stabbed when she heard the doorbell, her hands tensing up, forming fists. When she heard Declan run to the door to answer it, the brunette slowly turned around to walk to the door, forcing a smile on her face. “Hey. I think they are almost ready. They both wanted to pack for themselves,” her eyes slowly raised to meet his. “How are you?”

Only if I can bring my kids with me.

Dalton winced at the thought. “Yeeesh. What a way to go. And now a very specific fear I will have when I walk home. I do have to wonder if anyone will buy me fighting anyone off. I get asked at least once a shift if I’m old enough to be working in a bar.”

“Right? I’m not gonna lie, I didn’t really know how to react to it. I guess at least he was helping someone, but a foot on the cut is just weird. I’ve seen my fair share of weird things, though. It should be numbing by now. Oh, I get the age thing. No one thinks I’m old enough to have finished medical school. Really frustrating.”

Sheridan: Hey, I'm home from work, sick with a nasty cold.

Sheridan: A lot of students are out with a cold this week, and looks like I caught it, too.

Sheridan: Can you bring me soup and Emergen-C?

“I need a good story for this.” Dalton held up his hand with fresh stitches across his index finger. “Because slicing limes is not going to impress anyone and I might as well milk this.” He narrowed his gaze in thought, “Like I fought some knife wielding weirdo dressed as Cookie Monster on Halloween… Or something.”

“As a medical examiner, I could probably think of a few ideas. You could say that you saved a woman’s life during a mugging and got cut in the act. I had a person that cut his foot the wrong way and ended up on my slab because he was trying to save a woman’s life. He tried to kick the mugger and yeah. That didn’t work well.”

“I’m sparin’ ya the embarrassment, here.” he declared before announcing again with all the confidence in the world. “That’s easy! Go as the mom. All ya gotta do is be a giant pair of legs and ya match with minimal effort.”

“Oh, how sweet of you,” she rolled her eyes with a smile. “I don’t know. I haven’t thought about myself, to be honest. I was too worried about getting everything they need for Halloween that I forgot about myself.”

“It’s definitely different from my badge, but I’m glad they know how to be responsible with other people’s stuff. I’ve seen kids bad enough to throw other people’s stuff around for the fun of it.” He says with a small shrug then chuckles a bit. “I used to hate bedtime but now it’s what I look forward to the most. Sometimes.”

“Yeah, other people’s stuff. Their own is a different story. They are five, so their stuff isn’t really as special to them yet,” she shrugged, nodding her head. “Because of my field, I made sure they know not to mess with things. I mean, we both work in crime. Only mine is only partly crime and the rest is normal death stuff. So depressing when I think of it that way,” she furrowed her brows. “They aren’t too bad when it comes to bedtime. Brie is harder than Declan. I have to make sure there’s a night light and I put on her Barbie movies in her bedroom and that’s how she sleeps.”

“Oh that does sound like quite the bigger handful then a grey cat who feels like she owns the place.”

“Yeah, it’s fun. Last year I had to buy all new ornaments because they didn’t like the color scheme that I was using. It’s why I don’t have a pet though. I have enough to destroy the tree. But they want a dog, so who knows.”

Idiots. People that act like a know it all when they know absolutely nothing. People who think I don’t know how to do my job because I’m young. There’s a ton of things that annoy me, in all honesty.

“I never knew how difficult it would be putting up Halloween decorations with a cat. To make things short and sweet, I don’t think that Diana is a big fan of the fake cobwebs I have put up.” 

“It’s almost like having twins. You put up decorations only for them to rip them and say they don’t like it. Christmas is a blast, let me tell you.”