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TK woke up with a groan and pulled the covers over his head to stop the sunlight from shining directly into his eyes.
"I see someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed." Carlos said with a teasing grin.
"Everyone's a comedian now." TK grumbled as he peeked his head out from the covers, looking even more disheveled now with the covers messing up his hair.
"Just trying to make you laugh mi amor." Carlos said and carefully sat on the bed next to TK so that he didn't accidentally knock his leg.
"Did you want me to drop you off at the station before I leave for work?" Carlos asked, brushing TK's hair from his face.
"If you have enough time, if not then I can force Nancy to pick me up." TK shrugged, leaning into Carlos' touch slightly.
"I always have time for you baby." Carlos said with a smile and kissed TK's head.
"Even when you have to help me hobble around because I broke my leg falling through an unstable floor on a call?"
"You mean when you saved that little boys life by taking the full force of that fall while helping out the team who were a person down with Mateo visiting his cousin?" Carlos asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Okay you made your point, I'm amazing and you love me." TK laughed and kissed Carlos softly.
"That's not exactly what I said but I'll let you have it." Carlos teased and kissed TK softly.
"It was implied, I just said what you were thinking." TK laughed and let Carlos help him get up from the bed so that he could get dressed.
"Another sweats and hoodie day?" Carlos asked as he opened their wardrobe.
"You know me so well corazón." TK smiled and started the process of getting dressed with a broken leg, something he could not wait to be done with when his leg was healed.
"Did you purposely hand me your APD hoodie or was this a coincidence?" TK asked with a knowing smile.
"Oh it was definitely a coincidence, not just me loving how you look in it." Carlos winked.
"Well luckily this is my favourite hoodie to wear so you won't be hearing any complaints from me." TK grinned.
"You go and brush your teeth and I'll get your bag ready." Carlos said as he handed TK his crutches.
"Shout me if you need any help."
"Will do baby, thank you." TK said as he went into their en-suite bathroom.
----
"I'm starting to feel like no one here understand that medical leave doesn't mean coming to work every day anyway." Tommy joked as she saw TK hopping into the station on his crutches.
"That's just what happens when our friends and family are here Cap and it definitely beats sitting on the sofa watching boring daytime tv all day." TK grinned and stopped in front of his Captain.
"How are you feeling today sweetheart? I know I don't have to ask you as many follow up questions as the others but I still want to check on how you are feeling?"
"I'm about as good as you can get with a broken leg and my only pain relief being Tylenol but its definitely better than it was a few days ago." TK answered honestly, sometimes being injured with no strong pain meds was unbearable but luckily he seemed to have gotten past the worst of the injury for now.
"You are doing amazing sweetie." Tommy smiled and placed her clipboard down.
"Have you already had breakfast? I overheard Juddy talking about Paul making some pancakes."
"Carlos offered but I wasn't hungry but you know I can never turn down Paul's pancakes." TK said with a small laugh.
"I don't think anyone can, not even your Dad." Tommy laughed as she walked alongside TK as they went to the kitchen.
"TK! Hey buddy, we missed you." Paul smiled as he saw the two of them.
"Yeah we missed you brother." Judd nodded and moved to help TK into a chair.
"I missed y'all too." TK smiled and let Judd hover and fuss for a minute with a fond expression.
"TK! I didn't know you were here, I missed you the most, don't listen to any of them." Marjan grinned and hugged TK.
"I missed you too Marj, always my number one girl, you know this." TK grinned.
"I'm glad the kitchen is on the bottom floor, it decreases your chances of falling through it." Marjan teased.
"Haha very funny, maybe Nancy is my favourite after all." TK joked with an amused eye roll.
"I should be your favourite anyway dude, I'm your partner!" Nancy sighed as she joined them.
"Sorry Nance, maybe if we nearly drowned in corn together near the beginning of me living here." TK laughed and smiled as Nancy hugged him too.
"Did you just come to visit or did you need to talk to your Dad about something?" Paul asked as he placed the first lot of pancakes in front of TK.
"Just to visit, I missed y'all." TK smiled, adding his preferred toppings to his pancakes.
"We missed you too, it's not the same when someone is missing and now we've got both you and Mateo gone." Paul frowned.
"When is Mateo coming back Nance?" Marjan asked.
"It could be tomorrow or in a week, it all depends when the situation with his cousin is resolved." Nancy sighed, she missed her boyfriend and facetimes weren't enough anymore.
"Why don't we make that recipe that y'all found earlier?" Judd suggested to Paul, wanting to raise the team morale.
"What recipe is that?" TK asked, instantly curious.
"Paul and I found a funfetti cupcake recipe which is perfect now that you are here Tom." Marjan smiled, she knew that it was the paramedics favourite kind of cupcake.
"The T still doesn't stand for Tom but nice try Marj." TK laughed, Marjan had been trying to learn what TK stood for a while now.
"We can have a decorating contest!" Nancy suggested.
"Prepare to lose Theodore." Marjan said, looking at TK who was definitely the most competitive of the group.
"Unfortunately for you my hands aren't broken so I'm definitely going to win."
"Why do I feel like I just started world war three." Judd said as he watched the three of them.
"That's because you have Juddy." Tommy laughed and patted her friend on the shoulder.
----
"Why do I feel like I've just walked into an episode of the Great British Bake Off." Owen asked as he walked into the kitchen and saw almost his whole team including his son decorating cupcakes.
"Judd suggested that we make the recipe that Paul and I saw so that we could cheer up Nance and Thumbelina and I'm going to win." Marjan said, not looking up from her cupcakes.
"Hey Dad, can't talk I need to win this." TK said, waving a hand at the vague direction of where he assumed his Dad was standing.
"I'm going to win so you should accept that already Strand." Nancy said as she looked over at the younger Strand, a line of flour and icing across her face.
"Like hell y'all will win this, Gracie always loves my baking." Judd said and nodded at Owen, glasses in place and a look of focus on his face.
"There is a reason why I'm the designated chef of the 126, y'all are going to lose." Paul shrugged.
"Is Tommy the only sane person on shift with me today?" Owen asked as he looked at the team.
"Y'all better not have sabotaged my cupcakes while I was gone." Tommy said as she walked into the kitchen.
"Tommy not you too." Owen groaned.
"Someone needs to show the kids how it's done, Charles taught me how to make the perfect cupcake a few years back so I have this in the bag."
"Who's meant to be judging this competition if all of you are taking part in it?" Owen questioned.
"You are one of the judges Cap, tinkerbell asked Carlos to come by on his lunch break and Judd asked Grace to drop by." Marjan said.
"I guess y'all are lucky it's been a Q word day." Owen laughed, shaking his head fondly at the group.
"I'll be back when the competition starts then I guess." Owen said with a nod as he grabbed a smoothie out of the fridge and left the kitchen.
----
"Hey carino, how's your day been?" Carlos asked as he walked up to his fiancée.
"It's been fun but it's even better now you are here." TK smiled and leaned up for a kiss.
"Stop being so cute and in love." Nancy groaned.
"Nancy I brought a surprise for you actually." Carlos smiled.
"A surprise for me?" Nancy asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Hey Nance, surprise!" Mateo grinned as he walked into the kitchen.
"Teo!" Nancy cheered and rushed over to her boyfriend.
"Aww ain't that cute." Judd smiled as the couple hugged.
"You don't say that when I hug Carlos." TK grumbled.
"That's because you are my little brother and I'll always tease you." Judd laughed and ruffled TK's hair.
"Judson Ryder you better not be teasing that poor boy while he's injured." Grace said as she walked into the kitchen.
"Yeah Judd, be nice to me." TK said with a smug smile.
"I came up with this whole idea for you, you little brat." Judd said and rolled his eyes fondly when TK stuck his tongue out at him.
"Now that everyone's here can we please judge the cupcakes before a call comes through." Marjan asked.
"How will we know who's cake we're judging? Y'all haven't put names on these." Grace asked.
"It's a blind taste test to stop any potential biased decisions, we know what plate is ours." Judd explained.
"We just don't want Cap or Carlos choosing TK out of blind faith." Paul added on.
"I'm going to win fair and square and it'll be even more satisfying now." TK shrugged.
"Mateo you can join us and be a judge too." Carlos offered now that he and Nancy had rejoined the group.
"These look very nicely decorated." Owen praised as he cut one of the cupcakes up for the four of them to try.
"Oh wow, that's um." Carlos started, trying to keep the grimace from his face.
"It's definitely a cupcake." Grace said as she swallowed the bite.
"I wish it tasted as nice as it looked." Mateo said.
"The cupcake is dry and bland and somehow has no taste of vanilla, it's amazing really considering this is a vanilla cupcake." Owen commented.
"Judd I thought you said that Grace always loved your baking?" TK asked with a playful smirk on his face.
"This is all pointless anyway, who cares about cupcakes, I make the best potato salad in all of Austin." Judd huffed and crossed his arms.
"Oh no sweetie I'm sorry, I didn't realise these were yours." Grace said with an apologetic look on her face.
"These ones are also nicely decorated but let's see how they taste." Owen said as he cut into the next cupcake.
"Mmm the texture is a lot better and I can taste the vanilla." Owen hummed.
"Maybe a little too sweet but a nice cupcake nonetheless." Carlos added.
"I'd happily eat these ones." Mateo said, Grace nodding along in agreement.
"Now these ones look amazing, the detail on the decorating is exquisite." Owen complimented.
"Oh wow, I could eat a whole tray of these." Carlos said as he picked up another piece.
"This is the best one yet definitely." Grace agreed.
"I'm so glad I came back early." Mateo hummed.
----
"Finally! Y'all have been gone for so long we almost thought you'd forgotten about us." Tommy said as the four judges walked back into the kitchen.
"We had to make sure we had the order exactly right." Owen said as he held up the paper in his hands.
"In last place is Judd, sorry sweetie." Grace said with a sympathetic smile.
"This is all fiddlesticks anyway." Judd huffed.
"Then next we have this one." Carlos said as he picked up the second plate.
"This is rigged." Marjan sighed.
"Aww Marj it's okay, I loved yours." TK said as he reached across for her.
"Then we have this one." Owen said as he pointed to plate number five.
"I hope y'all know that you've now given TK permission to hold this over me forever right." Nancy said with an eyeroll.
"I'm sorry babe, I loved these ones and would've put them second." Mateo said apologetically.
"In third place we have this one." Grace said as she pointed to a plate.
"Y'know what, I'll take third place, thank you Gracie." Tommy smiled.
"I can't believe TK is still in the running." Judd said as he threw his hands up.
"We're all surprised about this." Nancy sighed and missed the smug look Carlos had on his face.
"The next one is this one." Mateo said as he picked up a plate.
"WHAT?" Everyone from the competition excluding TK shouted.
"I will admit defeat gracefully." Paul said after a few seconds.
"Which means the winner is TK, I never doubted you for a second baby." Carlos grinned and moved over to where his fiancé was sitting.
"That's what all of y'all get for doubting my baking skills! I'm amazing." TK grinned and wrapped his arms around Carlos.
"TK used to bake cookies with Gwyn all the time when he was a kid and he also went to a few cooking classes with Enzo." Owen said proudly, glad that it was TK that won.
"We're sorry for doubting you and everything I guess." Nancy said as she reached for one of TK's cupcakes.
"Oh wow, these are amazing." Paul said as he took a bite.
"Let me have a try." Judd said as he reached for one.
"Damn kid you are pretty great at this." Judd said as he took another bite.
"Carlos cooks dinners and I make dessert." TK said proudly.
"TK can also cook but he prefers to bake." Carlos added on with a proud look on his face.
"I'm proud of you Tyler." Marjan said as she once again tried to guess his name.
TK froze and quickly looked at his fiancée to make sure he didn't give away that Marjan was right, his Dad already knew to not tell Marjan his name.
"Do I look like I'd date someone called Tyler?" Carlos asked with a grin, holding back a laugh when TK pinched his sides.
"Not even close Marj." TK said with a look of faux calmness.
"We'll find out at the wedding Strand and you won't be able to hide it from us." Marjan said with look of defeat.
TK couldn't wait for the look on Marjan's face as she found out that she'd already guessed the name weeks before.