Weds Brief

Well it's that time of the week again to flash.   This week I am doing Tom and Ben's story based on this photo prompt.  Please save the 'awwww's for later'

Despite all the dangers of his job, Tom loved being a firefighter—you never knew what kind of rescue you’d be called on to make.

Like right now, Tom was in a sewer doing a rescue while a mother was standing off to the side, anxiously waiting for the fire department to extricate her children.  How they got into the sewer drain, Tom wasn’t sure, but he suspected he knew the reason why these little ones were so anxious to find water.

Tom noticed the media had shown up. One of the local TV station’s trucks were parked down the block, and a reporter and her cameraman were doing their intros to the story.  At least, this was one story he could show Ben without him being afraid for Tom’s life. 

“Okay, kids, let’s get you all out of here and back to mama.”   =Tom pulled the last of the ‘kids’ out of the sewer.   They all toddled to the curb. He watched with amazement as the ducklings waddled over and jumped up to the top and toward their waiting mom.  

Tom pulled himself up out of the sewer. He was hoping he could hide behind the fire truck before…   “Tom?”  

“Yeah, Cap?” 

“There’s is a reporter who’d like to interview you.”

The pretty blonde shoved a microphone in front of his face and started asking him questions.

Most of them were pretty inane, but Tom plowed through them.  In the end, people would see this as a human interest piece that broke up the usual horrors you see on the nightly news. 

It was hours before Tom made it home to Ben.  

“Hi honey,  welcome home.  You must be so tired,  why don’t you go take a shower and I’ll finish making the salad.”  Ben kissed and hugged him and then returned to the kitchen where  he’d been working on dinner for his hungry man.

“Sounds great, Ben.  I’ll be down shortly.”  After taking a nice hot shower and changing into some comfy clothes, he and Ben sat down to some beef ribs and homemade potato salad and corn on the cob.   Something they usually had at picnics, but every once in a while Ben couldn’t wait for the warm weather to come in earnest and he’d make them a preview of things to come.

“I have a surprise for you,” Tom said after they finished dinner and did the dishes.   They took some ice cream for dessert. Tom grabbed a beer, and Ben took one for himself, and they settled on the couch.   Tom took the remote and turned on the big screen TV that hung over the fireplace.  They loved to relax and watch TV. They had some favorite shows like “The Voice” and “Castle.”  Ben loved to watch “Revenge” on Sunday evenings and Tom liked to watch “Scandal.”   

“Why are we watching the news?” Ben asked suspicously.  Tom knew he didn’t like watching all the mayhem, especially whenever they spoke about firefighters getting killed in the line of duty.  It hit too close to home for Ben.  Tom liked to watch the sports highlights, but ever since Ben expressed his discomfort at listening to the rest of the news, Tom got his sports report from ESPN.  

“There’s something special on.  I’ll keep it on mute until it comes on.”

“Now you have me curious, did something happen today?”  Ben asked with that ‘I’m worried about you’ tone in his voice.

“Don’t worry, baby, it’s all good.” 

It felt like it took forever for the report to come up.  As soon as he saw the blonde reporter, Tom turned the volume on.

“I’m Tammy Simons, reporting from the site of a special kind of rescue.  Some ducklings fell into a sewer, and our intrepid firefighters are here to rescue them.  As you can see, one of the rescuers is in the sewer getting the babies out.”  They zoomed in.

“Tom!  That’s you!”  Ben sat up on the couch and watched the screen, transfixed, .  They could see Tom carefully take each bird and place it on the street,  then watched as they all filed in a row toward the curb and jumped up to waddle toward their mom.

Tammy talked to Tom’s captain, then Tom was front and center.  “So how did it feel to rescue the baby ducks?”

“It’s all part of the job,  going on rescues, and hoping they have a happy ending.”  She asked him a few more questions and then she wrapped.

Tom looked over at Ben, who had a big smile on his face.  “I’m so proud of you.”  Tom was captured in Ben’s arms as his husband hugged him.

“It’s just some ducklings.” 

“It’s more than that.  I like what you said about happy endings, cause you know what?”  Ben asked him.

“What?”

“You’re my happy ending.” 

You may aw now.

TBC

My fellow flashers:

Here's the final list of who's flashing this week, barring any changes. Michael Mandrake    Cia Nordwell      MA Church     Renee Stevens  Andrew Gordon  Julie Lynn Hayes J.A. Harmon