Chapter Text
...'Some days I want to WATCH IT BURN ...
Every day, though-EVERY DAY-I am steadfast in my belief that or ME, and for YOU...THERE IS NO OTHER AND THERE NEVER'...
WILL BE.'
"I meant that, Lucas-EVERY WORD. I thought that losing myself in liquor and...'companionship' would help me get over you...I don't know
why I thought that it would: it never has before: worked for me, I mean?"
My Dad has a saying: 'a mistake that you keep making isn't a mistake: it's a CHOICE."
"Too right." Vic neatly turned a phrase that she'd heard him use often to her benefit. "I was wrong and stupid to try to forget you with
Mayhorn...in so many really fundamental ways...I'm sure that he didn't mind being 'used', but it wasn't right or fair for any of us."
Ripley grinned. "Ex-nay with Jules. Being with her only illuminated the idea of the very real possibility that you and I were over. I
didn't want that. I'm sorry."
"I can't blame you for her...reverse the situation-me seeing you with her at Joe's I guarantee I would have done what you did...
look to get 'payback'...and I'M SORRY...and I didn't want that, either. I over-reacted; I didn't even let you finish. I should stop that:
it gets me into MESSES: like at the skyscraper. I know that that can't happen again....and on the subject of JULES-what does she have over
ME...other than THREE CUP SIZES, 3-4 inches in HEIGHT, and an ASS that can comfortably seat three?" "
"Tsk, tsk..I like your C cups just fine, Love, and you're the PERFECT HEIGHT and WEIGHT so that I can go 'walkabout' when we're doing
it...and your 'bump' is perfectly suited to the rest of you: ABUNDANCE doesn't always trump "QUALITY , Mrs.
Fire Chief," Ripley says, adding a 'splash' of Jedi Mond Games to his smile. "Soo...now what?"
"Now we wipe the slate completely clean and start fresh-beginning with a proper date. With 'eggy things', and bad coffee."
"And frozen margarine," he added. "Tomorrow morning?"
"It's a date," Vic responded, grinning from ear to ear.
.DECEMBER 31, 2020.
The home that Lucas Ripley shares with the Love Of His Life-Victoria Hughes-is located in the center of a cul de sac: they are
able to turn the volume of their stereo to one of its higher settings, so that the drums and bass of 'All My Life' by K-CI and JoJo
can be enjoyed to its fullest as The SFD Chief pumps his subordinate mate HARD...and DEEP:
I will never find another lover sweeter than you
Sweeter than you
And I will never find another lover more precious than you
More precious than you
Girl you are close to me you're like my mother
Close to me you're like my father
Close to me you're like my sister
Close to me you're like my brother...
Even, consistent strokes set her toes tingling and her womanhood weeping copiously: "SoGOOD, Daddy...so FUCKING GOOOD!" Vic
hissed into his ear. He responded with a medium-hard nip to HER left ear.
Hurtling toward the brink of exploding Lucas croaked "T-Try to cum with me; almost there!"
"I-oohhh...it's CUMMING, FUCK-it's too much!!"
...and it's over...
//////UDATED APRIL 29 2022//////
On day three of her 'stomach flu' Victoria, on the advice of Carina DeLuca purchases a home pregnancy test-actually THREE of them:
all three are POSITIVE...Vic's first reaction is GLEE; subsequently, she is scared, then worried (about her career and about how Lucas
may react)...and then elation again: "I'm all over the place," she mutters to herself. She calls and sets an appointment with Dr. DeLuca
for their next off day. She's already dreading the obligatory (and DREADED) 'desk duty' in six or seven months.
---SFD HQ---
"Yo, Bobby!" Sullivan turns to see his best friend and boss striding toward him.
"Damn, Chief!", he jokes. "We're yelling in the hallways now?"
"Can it, Chief," Ripley retorts. "Listen: has Herrera said anything to you about anything? This upset stomach of Hughes is now
three days in, and Herrera called off last shift as you know...I'm thinking that they're both PREGNANT."
"Huh. That's a stretch, Rip...though now that you mention it: Andy's appetite is off the charts recently, apart from nausea.
With Crisis One, re-initializing the PRT, the promotion...I saw without really seeing , and I know that I need
to find a way to work around it all. BUT...do we ask them, or wait for them to say something?"
Ripley thinks about it a few minutes; he's about to answer when Jules calls from the reception area. "Chief Ripley-the Mayor for
you-line 2."
"Pick this up later, Sul-beers at mine?"
"Chief!" Jules is in 'scolding mode' now.
"Yeah, Yeah...I'll call you," Robert says, and Ripley makes haste in the direction he came from.
"Mmmm! 'Twas a time when you came runnin' like a Jackalope when I'd call 'ya!", Jules trills.
"You're killin' me, Ms. Carr!" He smiles ruefully. "Line..?"
"Early Alzheimer's Handsome? Line 2.
She sashays away, though not before her boss delivers a medium-hard swat to her plentiful rear, sending it a-wobbling and
a-giggling. "Ummm! You remember she chortles.
Signing off with Mayor Hendrix the Chief makes strong headway in the stack of paper in his inbox until he remembers his commit-
ment to Sullivan and departs his office.
"Headed home, Julia."
"Pity!" she calls in response. They share a giggle, and as a reward for her being such a good sport, he favors her with a long and
appreciative eye-ball of the best 'rack' in the SFD; she smirks and squares her shoulders (if he wants to look let him have one to
sweeten his dreams later).
/////
Vic lay on the sofa when he arrived, with the lights dimmed and the telly screen dark. "Baby," she groaned, starting to rise.
"NoNoNo!" he insisted, guiding her back into a prone position. "We have leftovers from the weekend."
"I'll heat them."
"Lie down, you! Any blind fool can see that you still don't feel well. Let's sit for awhile."
"OK. What shall be our topic?"
"Your upcoming appointment with DeLuca."
"It's at 3pm Friday."
"I can be there. Just remind me the morning of."
"Just remember it this way: your Assistant has enough TITTY for THREE WOMEN on Friday or any day."
"Now, Now," her husband soothed.
He poured her ginger ale and served her a sleeve of saltines; for himself, he re-heated a half-rack of beef ribs, potato
salad, and corn from the Sullivan-Herrera cook-out the past weekend. They watch re-runs of a program about horny fire-
fighters and make snarky remarks about the lack of professionalism of the young people staffing the fire station, the rules
they break, and their semi-incestuous round-a-bout (sharing of DNA) amongst their 'fire family.' "That CHIEF is a horny old goat!"
Vic teases.
"Right...handsome bugger that he is he should have better sense than to trust his career to a loose-lipped millennial with poor
impulse control who happens to be his love interest, which might mean that HE also lacks impulse control."
"Speaking of hot millennials she's a hot mess but she's also HILARIOUS!"
*TBC*