Sand In My Toes - Open

[Mark Wilson]

For Chicago it was a decent day, the kind where you still needed a jacket but it was warm enough to venture down to the beach. He had been dragged by a bunch of parents from the school though given his shift had literally ended Mark didnt have much time to figure out a change of clothes. He was sat in the sand in his medic uniform counting how much he had to do that night as he watched his niece play around with the other kids from school.

He had tried to make general conversation with the mothers that were there but after a half hour of talking cookies, sleep overs and school events his head was anywhere but where it was supposed to be. He had taken to sitting slightly away from the group of laughing parents deciding the break from work and school parenting was a good thing. After a shift all he wanted to do was find his bed and sleep for a week though given he had a seven year old to look after.

Yes he still had dinner to make, lunch to pack for the next day, home work do, try to tire the little monster out enough that she would sleep until a reasonable time before he could even think about going to sleep himself. He took a look at the parents who seemed like they had life under control where as he could barely keep a kid under control on the best day. Parenting wasn’t for the faint hearted though seeing his niece laugh and joke around with the other kids on the beach, it was worth any lack of sleep as he brought his knees up to his chest and sat and watched them.

Mark was that kind of parent, the one who knew how to handle a disaster like a scraped knee but still didnt trust that someone else could do the same. No if Nina went anywhere outside of school for an outing he tried to tag along as much as he could to simple make sure she was alright. It was either a good case of paranoia or he knew what trouble his niece could find.

[Annabeth Tucker]

'You've gotten into my bloodstream' Annabeth was down at the beach. Off duty but she had on her tshirt still from work. She'd seen Mark and Nina playing. It was.. something she hadn't done much of as a kid and she envied it. A dad who she didn't know and a mother who never had time for her. The little girl was lucky. Annabeth came over and sat beside Mark. She was a comfortable distance so he didn't feel like she was invading his space yet close enough to talk. Seeing his uniform she decided to speak. "Good afternoon" she offered as she sat down pulling her jacket up around her. Her Jersey accent was strong. Her mother having gone across the river to Jersey and that is where Annabeth grew up until she had left home. Right now she didn't have much on her mind. Adjusting to a new city, a new place. Chicago was where she had the opportunity to get her schooling for becoming a paramedic. Though it was entirely new to her, everything around here was. The twenty five year old watched the kids playing, part of her wanted a family one day but she wasn't ready for that. Afraid of becoming anything like her mother she was.. standoffish and hardly so much as understood things. Her track record with failed relationships was nothing short of spectacular. If she ever managed to get her life in order... yeah that was another thing. Annabeth orderly. Ha. She reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle of flavored sparkling water. Twisting the cap off it took her a few tries but she managed to get it off. Leaning back on her one hand she took a sip. Anyone else she figured had to be nuts this time of year to be on the beach, then again when you came from where she had grown up this was nice weather, so really she couldn't blame the man. Tag: Mark Wilson

MADE BY VEL OF GS

[Mark Wilson]

Mark tried his best to spend as much time with Nina as possible, he always thought parents were crazy when they said that children grew up fast but it was true. Yesterday he thought she was still the baby he hadn’t a clue what to do with and now she had grown taller could run around and yell thing out more than gurgled noises that he was supposed to understand on some level. Mark looked up at the girl that came to sit beside him, the comfortable distance there as he smiled seeing the uniform.

He recognised the t-shirt as under his fleece top he had a similar one. “Good afternoon to you too.” He said hearing her Jersey accent that was strong. Not a Chicago native he thought as he put his eyes back on Nina for a moment before he looked back to woman. “I’m Mark, pleased to meet you.” He said as he held out his hand before he motioned to the group of children. “One of them yours?” He asked as he wasn’t too sure if it was a ‘your child did this to my child’ situation or if he was over thinking things on a tired brain.

Mark wasn’t exactly local himself; no he’d gone from Russia to Washington DC to Chicago so his accent varied a great deal though it was more DC than anything. Mark hadn’t expected to have to raise a child but then so far he had done better than expected; he never thought that he’d manage it but you never knew until you tried. Mark looked over at the woman again seeing her pull out a bottle of flavoured water, it was cool but then it was one of the better Chicago days to make it to the beach. “So what house do you work out of, I’m from fifty one.” He said motioning to her t-shirt, it was a recent change but then one fire house was like every other in its bones. The people changed but that was about it not that he minded it at all but a new house was like a fresh start.

Tag: Annabeth Tucker,

[Annabeth Tucker]

'You've gotten into my bloodstream' Beth didn't have kids. She wanted kids one day; but then she knew the stigma that her mother had. Kids were a sign that she'd been 'sleeping with someone' and that was the farthest cry from true. Beth was not exactly the type to take to bed. Women or men, something about it just freaked her out. So hence, children were far more expensive than she could obtain. "Beth" she offered her name in return and shook his hand. Though she watched him point to the mess of kids. "No No. I just saw your sweatshirt and figured you look like you could use the company." Beth was the friendly type most of the time. "Not that I have anything against kids, I just don't have any of my own." Sure other people's kids were sweet and funny. Having her own? No, that scared her to death. Even if she could bring herself too she was probably be the most over protective parent on the planet. 'Don't touch that, get that out of your mouth. No you can't run through the house. Don't crawl up the stairs.' Oh there was several. That's just how Beth was, overprotective of everything. "Twenty Three" she offered when he gave her a house number. There was a small smile on her face. There had been a lot of house hopping for paramedics recently. It had something to do with a traffic accident. At least that is what she had heard. Beth's partner was supposed to be coming back shortly. Something about the woman being involved in it. Beth didn't have all the details but she'd heard that the position she had taken was because one of the paramedics hadn't been mentally able to process the trauma and moved out of Chicago. Talk about an uphill battle. Tag: Mark Wilson

MADE BY VEL OF GS

[Mark Wilson]

Mark hadn’t really thought about kids until the day he had Nina in his arms and didnt have a choice in the matter. He wasn’t against it but he didnt exactly know what to do with one but he had learned fast which was proven by the fact Nina was still alive and relatively unscathed. He smiled when she said her name and shook his hand. Mark chuckled when she spoke about the sweatshirt as he nodded.

“Trust me I could use the company, between work and those mums who are trying to organize to death play dates the company is welcome.” He said knowing that he wasn’t the type to stray away from people or at least stray away too far. He might keep himself to himself but then it wasn’t as if she was asking his family history or anything. “Well I’m sure you will one day and when you do... remember there is no such thing as sleep and there’s nothing better in the world to do. Just keep everything on high shelves and never get lego.” He said with a grin, so he was a convert or at least a convert by proxy.

Protective brought on a whole new term when he started being a medic, the thousand things he saw going wrong versus the live and let live. Yeah he wasn’t usually one to freak out but he was protective over his niece at least when it came to people he didnt know or practically anything that way. He was used to the ‘don’t, can’t, shouldn’t and put it down’ words that came out of his mouth more often than anything else. He often wondered if there was anything that involved yes or please do or yes eat that.

“Twenty three, that’s great heard they had a few changes.” He said knowing he had been moved from house to house for a while. “Though I’m just saying this now, fifty one is way better.” He said as he winked at her grinning lightly. He had heard a few rumours but then there were always rumours going around. Bob and Jane who was Steve’s wife from two years ago and so on though he knew there had been an accident with fifty eight ambulance but then he felt for the paramedic that wasn’t able to come back after that.

“So how do you like it there? Who’s your partner?” He asked her as he realised that interrogation probably wasn’t the best way to go. “Sorry you don’t have to answer. I guess after shift I have a bad habit of twenty questions.” Mark was used to asking questions but yes this wasn’t the Navy this was life.

Tag: Annabeth Tucker