Saved By The Firefighter
Chapter 113

Joanne's Point of View.

Glancing at my watch, I practically hop from foot to foot, as I wait for Anders and Lucy to meet me at Café Nero just outside the bridges shopping centre. I am so happy for Josie and her arsehole. When he called Whip-me last night to ask his permission to marry Josie, it was so sweet. At first, Whip-me wondered why the hell he had to give his consent. Then Anders told him, that Josie's family, was not just her parents and grandparents, but also her work mates, who were like her brothers, and he was determined to ask every single one of them for their blessing. He had invited Kathline as well to help him chose the perfect ring, but she had to work, so we are going to WhatsApp her pictures of what we replace, for her input.

I look towards the small tunnel that leads down to the east side of the city, towards the river, and see Lucy and Anders laughing as they come through.

"Hey." Lucy waves at me, her smile wide.

I know for a fact she is more than a little relieved to be out and about, back in the land of the living. However, she still needs to be careful, especially if the sickness gets worse again, but for now, the medication is working, and she is only sick a couple of times a day, which believe me, is a huge blessing.

"Hiya. Should we go in for a coffee?" I ask, wondering if Lucy can deal with the smell.

"Yeah, I am actually desperate for one of the mango ice blasts." Lucy tells me, her eyes wide.

I grin at her, I would not say she craves any on thing at the moment, but when she wants something, she really wants it.

"How is my grandchild?" I ask her, pressing the black button in the side of the double doors so they open.

"Good, they have let me keep my breakfast down." Lucy grins as Anders chuckled.

"Come on ladies. I wish we had time to head into Newcastle to replace the ring, but I have meetings this afternoon." Anders shrugs as he ushers us through the doors.

We walk inside, taking the large sofa, with two chairs, that sits in the middle of the coffee shop.

"What do you want to drink?" Anders asks.

"Mango Ice Blast." Lucy instantly answers, her voice slightly manic.

"Okay, I know that. You have been talking about them as if they are porn all the way up." Anders chuckled at my daughter-in-law. Well, not officially, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt, Anders will not be the only one putting a ring on it. "Joanne?" He asks as a question.

"Skinny latte, with sugar free caramel syrup please." I answer with a smile.

Anders nods his head, then goes and stands at the back of the queue to order our drinks.

"Ben was funny last night." Lucy grins at me.

"Oh, really, how?" I ask her.

"When Anders called to gain his blessing, he looked disappointed. It took me ages to replace out, he was happy for Josie, but was pissed that Anders had beaten him to it." Lucy giggled.

"Oh, wow, so did he pop the question then?" I excitedly ask her.

"Not officially, I told him I wanted to wait until after this one is born. I quite like the idea of them being at our wedding as a page boy or bridesmaid." Lucy smiled, placing her hand on her stomach.

I pull my black bag, which is a small back pack off my shoulders, then open the main zip and pull out a bag handing it to Lucy.

"What is this?" Lucy giggles, knowing full well, I never pass a shop with baby clothes and not go buy something.

"Just some bibs, you can never have to many bibs." I grin at her.

"Thank you, Nana." Lucy grins at me, then puts them to her stomach, as if showing the baby, making me laugh at her, before placing them in her own bag.

Anders arrives with the drinks, and I cannot stop laughing as Lucy, instantly sucks the straw her eyes wide with wonder.

"So, I thought we could go to the top of 'The Bridges' to where 'Beaverbrooks' is, they should have some decent rings." Anders tells us.

"Yes, or we can go to Olive Street, there are some lovely jewellery shops up there as well." I tell him.

Anders nods his head as he takes a sip of his expresso.

"I want to make the proposal special, I know she doesn't like anything to fancy, so need some ideas." Anders sighs.

I love how he is making this proposal all about Josie, it bodes well for the pair of them.

"Where did you first get together." Lucy innocently asks.

I roll my lips, because Josie confided in me about the angry s*x they had in the changing rooms.

"Erm, not going to propose to her in the changing rooms of my gym." Anders chuckled.

Lucy looks confused for a moment, before the realisation hits her, and she widens her eyes, and makes her mouth into a perfect 'O'.

"Ooo, I once saw on a TV programme years ago, a man proposed by putting a ring into a 'happy meal' from McDonalds," Lucy suggested. Anders looks at her as if she has lost the plot.

"What? I think that is romantic." Lucy protests, then sucks on her mango ice blast with a shrug.

"You could book Lumley Castle, go for a meal, and stay over, that could be romantic." I suggest.

"Ben did that for our first date." Lucy sighs with a small smile on her face.

"No, I want something that is US, if you know what I mean." Anders says, looking deep in thought.

"What, arguing then doing the dirty." I giggle at him.

"Yeah, we did used to do that." Anders smirks, nodding his head.

"Her feistiness is what drew me to her." He grins, shaking his head.

"I am sure we will think of something." I tell him, but to be honest, I am not sure he will like any 'romantic' suggestions, so maybe he needs to figure this out for himself.

"So... what did all the guy's say when your rang them last night?" Lucy asks him.

"Davey said yes, and for me to f**k off, him and Kathline had a night with childcare. Twinkle sounded emotional. Headache, had a headache, but said yes. Wayne was the best reaction. He shouted with joy, as if I had asked him to marry me, then went on and on about how I should take her to Vegas and get married by an Elvis impersonator." Anders laughs at the memory.

I grin, Wayne and his love of the good old US of A.

"What time do you have to be back at the station?" Anders asks me.

"One of the advantages of shagging the station officer. I don't need to go in till after lunch." I grin at them.

Lucy laughs at me as Anders shakes his head.

"How is that all going?" Anders asks, probably to be polite.

"Great, better than great if I am honest. His ex-wife is being a b***h, but other than that it is going amazing." I grin with the happiness that has consumed me since Whip-me and I first began to date.

Finished with our drinks, the three of us head into the bridges, and make our way up the long concourse to the top corner and look in the window at first at the range of diamond rings they have.

"What do you think, a stone and diamonds, or just diamonds?" Anders ponders as he looks through the window.

"Which do you prefer?" I ask him, after all, this is his proposal.

"I like just diamonds," Anders says.

"I agree," I tell him with a smile and nod.

We step inside, and take a seat at one of the booths, as the lady behind the counter smiles and walks over to us.

"Hi, how can I help you today?" she asks with a big smile, clearly checking Anders out.

"I would like to purchase an engagement ring." Anders tells her, in his gruff voice.

"Oh, congratulations." She smiles at Lucy.

"Oh, it is not me, I am his employee, and this is my boyfriends mother." Lucy over explains.

"Friend, she is my friend." Anders tells the assistant.

Lucy grins, then puts her hand to her mouth, and pales slightly.

"Hey, are you okay?" I ask her immediately.

"Yeah, I think so, just a wave of nausea." Lucy frowns slightly.

"If you need the bathroom, you can use the one in the shop." The assistant tells Lucy, looking concerned she might barf all over her posh shop.

"No, no, I think I am good." Lucy tells her, then smiles, but lets out a massive burp.

"Oh, I am so sorry." Lucy blushes bright red.

I cannot stop the burst of laughter erupting out of me, my poor Lucy looks traumatised that she has burped in front of someone.

"It's not her fault." Anders defends her, and I compose myself, placing my hand over Lucy's with a smile.

"We all burp pet." I tell her, trying to console her a little bit.

"I am pregnant." She whispers embarrassed to the assistant.

"Congratulations, when my sister had her baby, she was always burping, and botty burping, truth be told." She tells Lucy kindly.

"Okay, so what type of ring are we looking for?" she asks.

"Diamonds please, big, but not to big, my girl is not flashy." Anders tells her.

"Oh, and do you have any n****e bars, or c******s bars with diamonds?" He adds.

Now, there is not a lot that renders me speechless, or that shocks me...but that has me staring wide eyed at Anders. My eyebrows reach to the sky, as poor Lucy turns her head towards him, her mouth wide open.

"We have small selection sir." The assistant informs him, her face a stoic mask, not once letting her professional demeanour waver. Before going to the back of the counter and gathering some trays of rings and the other stuff he wanted. Whatever this shop is paying her, is clearly not enough, with burb shoppers, and Anders and his strange requests.

She comes back with two trays of solitaire diamond rings, then heads to another part of the shop and returns with a tray of...well...piercing things, on it, with different stones.

"Are those real diamonds?" Anders asks, looking at the 'piercing' bars.

"Yes sir."

"Yes, I like them." Anders muses, as Lucy and I sit gobsmacked.

"What do you think?" He asks.

Lucy shuffles in her seat, as I look at him.

"I think, whatever floats your boat. But in all honestly Anders, I do not want to think of what the hell you are putting in Josie's t**s and fanny." I tell him as Lucy nods her head in agreement with me. Anders chuckles.

"It is not that unusual. Maybe you should try it before you knock it." He grins at us.

"No thanks." I say, crossing my legs and scrunching up my face at the thought of a needle piercing my bits and bobs.

I glance over to Lucy, who has placed her arm protectively over her boobs, shaking her head.

"Definitely not, they are painful enough at the moment!" She declares.

"How much for three of these?" Anders asks the assistant, who still is being the ultra-professional.

"They are £1200 each sir." She smiled.

"Not bad at all, yes I will have three of them." Anders smiles triumphantly.

"Now for the main event." Anders grins, looking at the tray of rings.

I sit blinking my eyes, the main event, he means that little revelation about Josies, preferred jewellery choices was just the prelude!

"What about this one?" He asks pointing at a really expensive huge diamond that is so big, people will think it is not a real diamond. "To big, plus it would get in the way when she is at work." I tell him.

Anders nods, then moves to some smaller ones, tilting his head from side to side scrunching up his mouth as he ponders on them. "I love this one." Lucy points to a ring that is approximately a carat.

"Yeah, that is nice." I agree, it is big, but not ridiculous.

"Humm, I quite like the idea of the solitaire in the centre, but then with two diamonds flanking it." Anders says.

"Yes, they are lovely." I agree with him.

The assistant walks away, then returns with another two trays of rings.

Anders looks at the first tray, then his head glances over to the second and he instantly stills, a wide smile forming on his face.

"What do you think of this?" He asks, hardly able to keep the excitement from his voice.

"I think it is perfect." I smile at him.

Lucy nods her head smiling.

"It is gorgeous, I know she will love it." Lucy agrees.

"This one please." Anders says with a triumphant smile handing the £10,000 ring to the assistant.

I get off the number 3 bus, that drops me off beside the fire station, and walk down to work. The garage doors are open, and the engine is not there, so they must be out on a shout. I head up to the office, to see that Whip-me has gone as well, which means it is more than a 'cat is stuck up a tree' kind of shout, and my old friend 'Worry' hits me like a freight train. I wonder what the call is, and head into my office, looking at the dispatch notice before I place it in the file.

I freeze when I see it. Fire, at the battery factory next to the car manufacture, blaze out of control.

s**t, this is a bad shout!