Chapter 18: Hazards

Alfred muttered under his breath as he got out of his car, glaring at the men busily washing one of the trucks at the fire station. One of the rookies was cleaning up the soot covered control panel for the truck's ladder, while one of the older men was cleaning the ladder itself. He was a bit concerned over the sight, it had only been a few months since he had nearly taken a tumble over the side of the ladder while it was extended, all because a rookie hit the wrong switch.

"Hey Brown! Don't knock Johnson off alright?!"

The rookie whipped around, his face red. "That was one time!"

"And I'm not likely to forget it anytime soon!" Alfred shouted back, heading inside. Chief Cash smirked, throwing an empty can at the man, who in turn caught it, only to toss it into a collection bin a few feet to his right.

"Glad to have you back Jones. Heard you've had a pretty rough week with Cyr."

"Day one with Cyr was rough, the rest kinda evened out some." he shrugged, passing his boss to head into the kitchen just off the garage. Cash followed closely, but sat in a chair at the bar they had built in the room. "You need something sir?"

"I heard about what happened before you took off for vacation. I think that's a record for closing a case. You sure you'll be able to explain to a jury how you connected all those dots?"

"Of course I can."

"Well I might just have to show up and find out myself... how's the kid doing anyway? You must've kept up with him, right?"

"He and his mom are living with me now."

"What?" now that really got the chief's attention.

"Yeah. Savannah jacked my house keys the day I got Davie back, and by the time he got released from the hospital, Savannah had already gone to my landlord and had him add her and Davie to my papers. Brock got a kick out of it for some reason..."

"I'm getting a kick out of it! It's about time you found a woman and settled down, but kid I can't help but question how it happened."

Alfred snorted, digging around in the freezer to produce his well hidden mini-apple pie. Cash eyed it in jealousy, wondering how the hell the blonde had been able to hide the small box in the freezer for a month, when every person at the station had dug through that thing looking for every little goody it had to offer. "So, any interesting calls while I've been away?"

"Oh no, you're not changing the subject son." he smirked, and waited for the younger man to finish nuking the pie. After grabbing a fork Alfred walked over to sit with his chief, and started stabbing at the pie. "You must really like this woman to let her move in on her on her own like that."

"Well she kinda lost her apartment in the fire. You know, the fire where I jumped out a window with her in my arms."

"You really like her." the blonde got a jab in side. "And what's her son got to think about this? Get out of the hospital to find the detective who figured out where he was had the hots for him mom."

"He took it really well. About... week two he started really pushing us to get together. He's already starting to call me 'dad'." Alfred frowned. "Savannah was the tough one. She pitched a fit when she found out she would have to share a bed with me, but she settled down about it after a few days. It got a little awkward when Davie started pushing us to hook up... We got over it about week three though."

"Oh yeah? And why's that?"

"I asked her out." he took a bite of the pie, but dropped it with a hiss when it burnt his tongue. "Ow!"

"You've gone soft on your time off Jones." a tall, dark haired man walked over, his brown eyes glistening in amusement. "You used to be able to eat something so fresh out of the oven the rest of us had to wait an hour just to touch it."

"Shut up Travis, I have not gone soft." Alfred smirked. "I just got used to a woman's cooking."

"Oh yeah?"

"She plates it and mmm just the right temperature to dig right in."

"Glad you like it so much!" the men whipped around when Savannah's voice reached them, and Alfred got to his feet when she walked their way, all dressed up in a nice green sundress with cute silver sandals. She sneered at Cash and Travis over Alfred's shoulder when he leaned down to kiss her cheek, then held up a tin Captain America lunch box.

"I thought you might enjoy a homemade lunch today."

"Mm whatcha make?"

"Reubens, nice and filling for a hard-day's work." she smirked. "And safe, since not many people can stomach real sauerkraut."

"Real?"

"I like to take trips to a nice German store I found a while back. Everything's straight from Germany, completely authentic." Alfred opened the tin, and sure enough the smell of the sauerkraut made Travis back away. Savannah snickered, then turned her head to meet Alfred's lips when he made to kiss her cheek again. The lunch box snapped closed so he could wrap his arms around her, pulling her flush against him for a second before letting her go.

"See you when you're off Alfred."

"Of course." he watched her strut away, then pulled his reubens out of the box- holding them securely in one hand- before hurling the tin at Travis, who was staring after the woman until Captain America made contact with his face. "She's mine Travis, stop undressing her with your eyes!"

Travis couldn't reply, too busy holding his broken nose. He did, however, shoot the man a dirty look before retreating from the room. Cash shook his head in disappointment, sliding Alfred's abandoned pie over to eat.

"Stop hurting the man just because you have a beautiful woman. You know he could never land one as half as good."

Alfred laughed, nodding in agreement. He retrieved the lunch box before returning to his seat and beginning to eat the delicious homemade sandwiches Savannah had made for him. The chief eyed the odd smelling meal in a mixture of curiosity and disgust.

"The other's are gonna start callin' you "kraut" kid."

"Oh ha ha." he paused between bites to narrow his eyes at the bald old man. "I'll take the hose to them."

"They might just take it to you if you keep eating those things."