Gail Barrett - Feisty Firefighters Bundle

Gingerly, Jason picked up the floppy baby and carried her to the bassinet.

‘Put her on her side,’ Laura advised. ‘And then tuck the sheet over her firmly enough to make sure she doesn’t roll onto her tummy.’

Jason was arranging the baby as though handling an unexploded bomb. ‘Why can’t she sleep on her tummy?’ he asked. ‘I do it all the time.’

Laura pushed back the image of Jason in those pyjama pants, sprawled prone on a mattress, with tousled blond hair and a stubble-roughened chin turned to one side. ‘It’s thought to be a major factor in protection against SIDS.’

‘SIDS?’

‘Sudden infant death syndrome. Used to be called cot death.’

Jason stared at the tiny face below him as he carefully tucked in the sheet. ‘She’s not going to die, is she?’

‘Of course not.’ The notion that Jason was starting to care about his child caused a wash of pleasure that was unfortunately short-lived.

‘Wouldn’t be a good look, would it? Handing it back to its mother if it had fallen off its perch.’ Jason grinned at Laura. ‘Be a bit hard to cover up my incompetence then, wouldn’t it?’

‘All new parents feel incompetent,’ Laura said quietly. ‘Babies don’t come with personalised instruction manuals. We’ve had a sharper learning curve than most, what with her unexpected arrival and her being unwell, but we’re doing OK.’

Jason simply nodded and Laura hugged the fact he hadn’t questioned their partnership as unexpected parents for Megan. It wasn’t a lot but it was enough to be going on with and the silence in the room seemed to herald a peacefulness that bordered on contentment. Almost.

‘I am so hungry,’ Laura had to confess. ‘Did you notice we missed lunch?’

‘Now that you mention it.’ Jason looked at his watch and his eyes widened. ‘We’ve almost missed dinner as well. I can’t believe I’ve gone so long without food. I hadn’t even been thinking about it.’

‘You had other things to think about.’

‘Yeah. Did you see all those old fogies giving us the death glare in that waiting room?’

Laura nodded, smiling.

‘You would have thought it was us making the noise, not our kid.’ Jason sounded affronted now.

Laura nodded her agreement and the glance they shared was one of understanding. The elderly patients had forgotten or never known what it was like to care for a new baby. Laura and Jason knew.

Our kid. Laura’s smile widened and Jason smiled right back at her.

‘I could kill for some of Mrs Mack’s bacon and eggs right now.’

‘Me, too.’

‘And a beer.’ Jason raised an eyebrow. ‘I s’pose you’d rather have wine or something?’

‘No. I like beer.’

‘Really?’ Jason gave Laura an assessing glance and then his smile widened. ‘Cool. I’ve got some in the fridge.’

‘Great.’

‘There’s some bacon and eggs there as well, I think. Unless Stick ate them when I wasn’t looking. Did you know I can cook?’

‘No. You seemed to know where all the take-away shops in the area were when you went out last night.’

Jason’s chin lifted at the challenge. ‘Stay right where you are,’ he ordered. ‘You’re in for a treat, babe.’

It was a treat. Crispy bacon, perfectly cooked eggs and thick slices of soft buttered bread all washed down with icy-cold lager. Megan slept on…and on. They did the dishes, sterilised bottles, made up the night feeds and sorted all the new baby purchases into tidied positions. And still Megan slept.

‘Do you think she’s all right?’ Jason peered into the bassinet. ‘I can’t tell if she’s even breathing.’

‘She’s fine,’ Laura told him. ‘She’s got a lot of sleep to catch up on.’

‘She’s not the only one.’ Jason flopped onto the couch beside Laura and yawned hugely. ‘Shall I put the bassinet in your room, then?’

Laura cleared her throat. ‘I was thinking it could go in your room.’

They eyed each other warily.

‘Maybe…’ Jason sounded hopeful. ‘We could leave it in here and take turns getting up?’

‘Megan’s not an “it”, Jason.’

‘I was talking about the bassinet.’

‘Oh…OK.’ Laura let that one pass. ‘All right. Sounds fair to me. Who’s going to get up first?’

‘Um.’ Jason seemed to have found something fascinating to look at on the ceiling. Laura tilted her head back as well.

‘Whose baby is this, Jason Halliday?’

‘She loves you.’

‘She’ll love you, too, if you give her half a chance. Feeding her will make a big difference.’

‘I don’t know how to feed her.’

‘You just hold the bottle. She’ll do the rest.’

Jason was silent.

‘How ’bout we do the first night feed together?’ Laura suggested generously. ‘You can feed her and I’ll change her nappy.’

‘Sounds like a plan.’

‘Then you can do the next one by yourself.’

‘But…’ Jason turned his head and caught Laura’s expression at close range. ‘Oh, all right. I’ll give it a bash.’

‘Good for you.’

Jason sighed heavily a moment later and Laura had to smile.

‘You’re finding this pretty rough, aren’t you?’

‘It’s a nightmare,’ Jason admitted.

‘So you never wanted a family, then?’

‘Of course I did. Do,’ Jason corrected himself. ‘I just planned on being in love with the mother of my kids. Planned on planning the kids for that matter.’ He sighed again. ‘Shelley Bates certainly wouldn’t have been on the list of potential candidates.’

‘You weren’t in love with her, then?’

‘I’ve never been in love.’

‘Oh, come on!’ Laura’s eyes snapped open. ‘You’re permanently in love. It’s just that the object of your affections gets updated at regular intervals.’

‘Of course it does. That’s because I’ve never found what I’m looking for. If I was really in love I wouldn’t have to keep looking, would I?’

Laura’s heart skipped a beat. ‘What are you looking for, Jase?’

‘I wish I knew.’

‘Maybe you’re using the wrong search engine.’

‘Don’t think so. I know what I like.’

‘Which is?’

‘Well, they have to be great-looking.’

Laura’s snort summed up what she thought of that criterion.

‘Hey, it’s not just the looks I go for. I’m not that shallow. I always test out intelligence with an in-depth discussion on current world politics.’

Laura thought of the yellow bikini-clad bimbo. ‘Really?’

‘No.’ Jason grinned and Laura shook her head even as she chuckled.

‘There you go. You are shallow.’

‘No, I’m not,’ Jason protested. ‘There’s more to my girlfriends than the way they look.’

‘Like what?’

‘They have to be fun to be with,’ Jason said seriously. ‘Adventurous. And at least reasonably intelligent. Maybe that’s why they never last,’ he added sadly. ‘Even the most promising ones get boring.’

‘What’s the longest relationship you’ve had, Jase?’

‘Twelve months. How ’bout you?’

‘I lived with someone for two years.’

‘Didn’t work out, then?’

‘No.’

‘Got boring, huh?’

‘You could say that. John just wanted someone to cook and clean and devote themselves to making him happy.’

Jason grinned. ‘Works for me.’

Laura aimed a punch at his upper arm. ‘I was joking,’ he protested, rubbing his arm.

‘It’s not funny,’ Laura told him primly. ‘And I’m never going to get trapped like that again. In my book, loving someone doesn’t mean you get to control or take advantage of them.’

Jason sat up. ‘Hey, I hope you don’t think I’m taking advantage of you. You did offer to help look after Megan, you know.’

‘I know,’ Laura confirmed.

‘Why did you?’ Jason rested his head on the back of the couch again. ‘All my other mates have done a very effective job of disappearing into the woodwork. I might just have a few words to them about that.’

‘Maybe I’m just a nice person,’ Laura said lightly. She yawned and closed her eyes. ‘Right now, I’m a very tired person. I haven’t had any sleep worth mentioning for rather a long time.’

Jason could sense the moment Laura fell asleep only minutes later. Very slowly, her head tipped sideways until it was resting on his shoulder. He turned his head, intending to suggest she wake up enough to go and lie down properly, but something stopped him.

Maybe it was the softness of her hair brushing his cheek or the fresh scent of some kind of flowery shampoo she had used. Or maybe it was just the good feeling it gave him that she trusted him enough to use his shoulder as a pillow. Or the fact that she had fallen asleep from exhaustion due to helping him with a task he’d have had no hope of managing on his own. He’d never done anything he could think of that might have inspired such a generous response on Laura’s part.

She had been telling the truth even if it had been intended as a joke. Laura Green was a nice person.

A very nice person indeed.

‘THREE-TEN Robbins Avenue. Three-one-zero.’

The elastic braces on Jason’s over-trousers were still dangling as he reached for his coat and helmet.

‘Smoke seen to be pouring from rear of house.’ The calm voice of the dispatch officer managed to override the insistent blare of the alarm sounding through the loudspeaker system of Inglewood station. ‘Multiple calls.’

Jason caught Stick’s gaze and grinned at the anticipation in his colleague’s face. Multiple calls to the emergency response control centre invariably meant that the job was genuine rather than a false alarm or prank call. He was feeling pretty excited himself. This was the first callout for Green Watch day shift and it had happened within minutes of arriving for work.

After four days of the nightmare his personal life had become, this felt like the clock was being wound back. This was his real life. He could forget about Megan and Laura and even the nebulous spectre of Shelley Bates and any upcoming confrontation.