Safe Haven Surrender

"We really had to get one of these today of all days?" Vic thought as she ditched the note and picked up the baby out of the duffle bag.

She had never dealt with a Safe-Haven surrender before. So now on top of figuring out the protocol for that, she also had to deal with her naked man friend (as Travis calls him) being in the house and having to make sure that Travis doesn't spill to said naked man friend that he knows about him and Vic. It was going to be a very long night.

She held the baby in her arms as Travis examined him. He seemed way better with kids than she did. Everyone at the SFD called Travis the baby whisperer. Though he and Michael never got the chance, everyone knew that they would be the most amazing parents to any kid that came their way. Vic, on the other hand, never had much experience with babies. This little guy was honestly the first baby she had even held in close to a decade. She hoped she would be able to pass him off to someone, like Travis, until DCFS got there to come and get him. Hopefully that would be before Ripley noticed.

That hope quickly faded as Ripley wandered into walk-in office where Travis and Vic were.

"Whoa, is that a…" Ripley trailed off, slightly in shock. Mostly he was in shock because they don't get Safe-Haven surrenders all that often. However, he was also in shock over who was holding the baby. Ripley never pictured Vic as ever having or wanting kids, and since they never discussed it he never knew how she felt about them. But she looked so beautiful cradling that little boy in her arms, even if she did look scared out of her mind. He was shaken from his thoughts when Travis explained the situation.

"Baby, yeah, somebody left him for us. I'm just going to confirm that he's healthy and then call DCFS to come take custody."

"Good." Ripley smiled at Travis before turning his attention to Vic and the baby. "We don't get many of these. Aren't you a cute little guy! Hi!"

Vic smiled and bounced the baby a little bit. Ripley seemed to like kids. Did that mean he wanted kids with her? She wasn't the greatest with babies, but if it meant having cute moments like this more often, she could get used to the idea.

Just as Travis had done with Ripley, he did the same with Vic. She was enjoying her little fantasy before she was brought back to an awkward reality by her best friend.

"Do you have kids, Chief?" Travis asked. He could feel Vic's eyes glaring at him.

"Uh, no, Montgomery…no." Ripley didn't quite know how to answer. Technically, no, he didn't have any kids, but that didn't mean that he never wanted any. And why would Montgomery be the one to ask that question, and not Vic? Maybe it was just his way of making small talk. Before he could find out, Vic interrupted.

"Uh, I think we should let the chief go. Thank you Chief. Good to see ya."

Vic breathed a sigh of relief when Ripley walked away. She didn't want their cute bonding moment to end, but she also couldn't have Travis prying into their relationship and having Ripley find out that Travis knows.

"I gotta go get a thermometer out of the rig. I'll be right back." Travis said before walking away.

Vic had a look of shock on her face. Travis was the one who was supposed to be dealing with this kid, not her. And now both Travis and Ripley were gone. What if they were together and she wasn't there to stop Travis from revealing everything he knows about her and Ripley's relationship. Vic stared down at the baby, who was now fussing and squirming in her arms. Yeah, this was definitely going to be a long night.

Thank god for Vic that her old Captain, Pruitt Herrera, showed up when he did. He was a dad. He knew how to take care of kids; look at how Andy turned out! She passed the baby off to Captain Herrera who happily obliged, probably because it was the most interesting thing going on in his life at the moment. Unfortunately for Vic, she wished it was hers. Vic thanked her former captain and ran out of the room, one to see if she could get in on the action from the RV that just crashed through the building, but also to find Travis or Ripley and keep one away from the other.

Vic couldn't find her two favorite guys anywhere and it was starting to stress her out. She decided to keep herself distracted by helping the medics take care of the mother from the crash. It must have been her night, as that didn't pan out either. The mother involuntarily hit her (or voluntarily, Vic couldn't decide which), so Vic thought it would be better if she went to work on something else.

Once again, that something else turned into her taking care of the baby. Pruitt had passed him back off to her to join the action down at the accident scene. According to him, DCFS had a few more calls before theirs, so it could be a while.

"Guess it's just you and me kid." Vic bounced the fussing baby in her arms. Pruitt said the baby should probably get some sleep. He certainly wasn't going to get any in the walk-in center, or anywhere in the main firehouse for that matter. Vic decided the best place to take him would be the bunk rooms.

Vic slouched onto her usual bed, careful not to jostle the baby too much. She tried cradling him in her arms, but he kept squirming and fussing.

"Come on buddy. We've gotta get you to sleep." Vic spoke softly to him as she bounced him a little. When that didn't work, she felt as if she was at her wits end. "Seriously little guy? Sounds like you are having just as bad of a night as Auntie Vic. You didn't plan on getting put in a duffel bag and dropped off at a big fire house with all these scary people. Just like Auntie Vic didn't plan on being here with you when there's a big car crash downstairs and I have to worry about keeping two of those big scary people away from each other."

The baby finally started calming down. Vic moved him so that he was laying on his stomach against her chest.

"There you go. Is that better?" She started rubbing the infant's back. "And I'll let you in on a little secret. Those big people out there aren't so scary, at least not usually. I'm just a little scared of them right now. You know that cute blonde guy who us big people called Chief, well we're kind of together and I'm afraid of him getting mad at me for telling my best friend about us since we weren't supposed to be telling anyone."

The baby stared up at her, his eyes started to look sleepy. Vic rolled her eyes and smiled down at him.

"And you have no idea what I'm saying. I'm talking to a baby about my love life because I literally can't tell anyone else because the only people I would want to tell are other firefighters and that's how I got into this mess to begin with. Ugh! I just wish it was easier because I really like this one…almost as much as I like you!"

Vic tapped the infant on the nose softly, causing him to smile slightly. Soon after, the baby closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. Vic yawned. It had been a long day. Since the baby was sleeping she didn't see the harm in getting a few moments of sleep herself. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep. But, rather than sleeping, her brain went to daydreaming about her and Ripley. In the daydream, they were on their usual beach from their fake vacation, only this time there were beach toys and baby sized beach towels in between her and Ripley. Looking back up at her was a beautiful caramel skinned little boy with the brightest blue eyes. Ripley had the biggest smile on his face as he carried the little boy into the water. Vic's smile was equally as big as she watched the two splashing and playing. The moment was perfect. But, just like before, her perfect fantasy was cut short when she heard the bunk room door crack open.

She opened her eyes to see the person she was desperately looking for, but also desperately avoiding. The look on his face was anything but welcoming. This was the moment she was afraid of, but she thought if the little baby on her chest could survive the crazy scary night he was having then she could survive this next conversation.

"I just had an interesting conversation with Montgomery." Ripley said sternly.

Vic took a deep breath. "Look, if we're going to have this conversation, can you keep your voice down. I just got this little guy to sleep and I don't want anything waking him up until DCFS gets here."

Ripley was about to start his steamed up spiel, but the cuteness of seeing Vic comforting the little one calmed him down. He sat on the bed next to the one Vic was lounging on.

Vic spoke softly, but strongly enough to get her point across. "Yes, Travis knows about us. And so does Gibson. Gibson found out accidently, but I told Travis after I found out that you told your sister. He is my best friend and basically like a brother to me. I'm sorry if it's an issue, but the people in this house are family to me, and I'm sick of hiding things from my family."

"I understand that Station 19 is your family, but they are still firefighters. If any of them accidently said anything to anyone in another house or to the Battalion Chief or anyone in HR…" Ripley breathed out, very annoyed.

Vic cut him off. "They aren't that stupid! They know how big of a problem it would be if anyone outside of this house found out about us!"

Vic hadn't realized how loud she had gotten until the infant on her chest started waking up. "Crap! No, go back to sleep little guy. Auntie Vic is so sorry she woke you up."

Ripley watched in awe as the woman he loved began rubbing the baby's back and speaking softly to him, trying to get him back to sleep. The more he stared, the more Ripley's anger subsided. All Ripley could think about now was how amazing of a mother Vic was going to be to their children. Without a second thought, Ripley got up from the bed he was sitting on and sat on the edge of Vic's bed.

"Wait, what are you doing? We are supposed to be fighting?" Vic was so confused by what was happening. She shifted over slightly, allowing the man she loved to join her laying on the tiny twin bed.

Ripley put one arm around Vic and kept the other on the infant, switching between rubbing his back and gently rubbing his cheeks. Ripley's eyes stared down at Vic lovingly. This was a much different look than he had come in with.

"I know your comrades in Station 19 aren't that stupid. I just wish this was easier. I would love to be able to tell the whole freakin world about us, but all I can think about is how many problems that will cause, not only for me, but for you as well. I know how much your career means to you and I don't want anything to get in the way of it."

"I wish it was easier too." Vic said as she laid her head against Ripley's shoulder.

Ripley kissed her forehead. He kept his head pressed to hers and spoke softly. "Look, if it means that much to you, I guess we can tell everyone at 19…but that's it."

Vic looked at Ripley and smiled. "Really?"

"Really. If I get to tell my family then it's only fair that you can tell yours."

Vic kissed the man she loved. "Thank you. Not only for helping me with this kid, but for understanding how important the people in this house are to me. You're amazing. Now if you don't mind I think I'm going to follow this little guy's lead and take a nap. It has been one hell of a night."

Vic settled against Ripley's chest and closed her eyes. It wasn't long before she surrendered to the exhaustion. Ripley watched the woman he loved and this newborn sleeping peacefully against him. This wasn't a fantasy. At least for a few minutes, this was reality, and it couldn't be more perfect. He once again kissed Vic's forehead, and spoke softly before drifting off to sleep himself. "Victoria Hughes, I love you."

As the chaos in the rest of the firehouse subsided, DCFS finally arrived. Everyone looked around at each other. Within all the chaos, the other firefighters forgot the infant was even there. They also noticed Vic was nowhere to be found.

"Vic must've taken the little guy somewhere quiet to get him to sleep." Travis said, headed in the direction of the bunk room. "I'll go get him."

Travis quietly crept into the bunk room. When he opened the door he smiled at the sight. Ripley and Vic were peacefully sleeping in each other's arms with the baby sprawled out on Vic's chest. Before going over to retrieve the baby, Travis decided to snap a quick picture on his phone. Whether they wanted to now or not, Travis knew the couple would want a memory of this night later.

He snuck over to Vic's bed and ever so softly peeled the baby off. "Come here little one. We don't want to wake up Auntie Vic and Uncle Ripley. Let's go say goodbye to everybody."

Travis cradled the baby against him as he crept back out of the room, going to rejoin his fellow firefighters in the main lobby. He smiled at the thought of the couple still sleeping in the bunk room. They somehow managed to find the calm in all the craziness. As everyone else had been saying, it really was one hell of a night.