Birthday Shift

Maeve's 6th birthday, takes place during FOOLS episode

Maeve remembered that her biological parents would take 1 gallon of blood and give her a small cupcake on her birthday every year, she didn't remember why.

She remembered being 1 and a half, surrounded by white padded walls in a room where they caught her medicine.

She didn't tell Bobby though, she couldn't.

Her parents told her not to tell anyone.

Maeve knew that Bobby and Athena were her parents, not her biological parents but still her parents, but she still felt like she had to listen to them.

Bobby fostered her on her birthday, she remembered being in her orphanage room when he walked in, still in his firefighter clothes.

She remembered being sad because this was the 5 foster family she went through.

Her 5th birthday was her first birthday with a mom again.

Honestly, Maeve didn't know how to celebrate her birthdays. Bobby adopting her last time was her birthday present, along with a drawing book.

Other than donating her blood, Maeve had no other idea of how to celebrate her birthday. So when she woke up on her birthday, it was like any other day.

She had made Chimney a card, it was his first shift back after Maddie gave birth.

"Good morning!" Bobby smiled, placing some bacon on her plate. "Morning, Daddy.." Maeve yawned, dragging her toy duck on the ground.

She sat at the table, next to May and rolled up her sleeves without a word. "Why did you do that for?" Harry asked.

"Did what?" Maeve asked, shovelling eggs into her mouth with her plastic fork. "You rolled up your sleeve." May added.

Maeve looked at her sleeve and paused for a moment, before scratching it. Athena looked over and noticed there was this scar.

"Mosquitos? Yeah, they suck." Harry chuckled, May smiled at Maeve and rolled down her sleeve for her.

Athena and Bobby exchanged looks but didn't say anything, "come on, we gotta get to work!" Bobby said.

A funny thing with the uniform is that Bobby had to shrink it in the wash for it to fit Maeve, before that he took 10 pictures of her wearing something way too big for her.

"Got your tape?"

"Yep."

"Pencils?"

"Yes."

"Scissors?"

"Uh huh."

"Atta girl, next time, you're going to be the one to make me remember." Bobby laughed, "hey, do you remember what today is?"

"Pasta Thursday!"

"That's right, but anything else?" Bobby asked, and she hummed. "Is it Buck's birthday?" Maeve asked. "Nope, try again.." he grinned.

"Umm... is it fire drill day?"

"Uh, never mind.... Fire drill day is the worst right?" Bobby asked, and Maeve laughed.

"Yeah."

...

The 118 were called into a playground, with a motorcycle that caught on fire.

"They got self-driving motorbikes now?" Chimney asked, and Maeve looked around. "The driver couldn't have gotten far." Bobby added. "Maeve, stop this bike."

The young firefighter shape-shifted into a dragon, and watered down the bike. Once it was not on fire anymore, she shape-shifted back and kicked it away.

"Crisis averted." She smiled as Hen and Chimney helped the man on the merry go round. Maeve felt like she was being watched and looked around again.

Something felt off.

"What are you looking for?" Buck asked, Maeve didn't answer until she spotted two people filming nearby.

"The drivers." Maeve pointed at the two men, and Bobby looked between them and Maeve. The two men noticed and started to run.

"Maeve, go fetch them." Bobby nodded.

...

"You think she'll catch up to us?" Mitch asked. "Don't worry, she's like 5 years old." Shay panted, he was very wrong.

In front of them, Maeve landed as a dragon, hissing at them. "Woah!" Mitch shouted, and Shay panted hard. "H-hey there... you're not gunna hurt us right?" Shay asked.

He was right, but Maeve did drop them in front of Athena when she came to arrest them. She landed on Athena's shoulder and squeal. "How do the cops have a dragon?" Shay asked.

"The cops don't, the firefighters do, read them their rights ." Athena retorted. She looked at the dragon and back at Bobby, who was approaching the scene.

"This belong to you?"

"Yes, she does."

...

Bobby decided to take Maeve out for ice cream after work, as a little recharge.

They sat together on the bench, enjoying a cone of chocolate. "Good, right?" Bobby smiled. "Yeah!" Maeve squealed.

They just sat in silence until Maeve scratched at her arm again.

"Hey, kid?"

"Yeah?"

"Why did you roll your sleeves up earlier?" Maeve stopped scratching for a bit, before moving her hand to her lap.

"I'm not supposed to say.." She answered, not looking at him. "Did your other mom and dad tell you not to say?" Bobby asked, and Maeve nodded.

"You know you don't have to worry about them anymore."

"I know..."

"I don't want to force you into telling me anything. But I want you to know you can tell me anything."

Maeve stayed quiet for a bit before rolling up her sleeve, it was indeed a scarred spot. "Every year on my birthday.."

"Ever since I was little, my mum would take 1 gallon of blood. As a reward, my dad gave me a little cupcake."

"They didn't even numb the area... the needle was so big. Even though it hurt so much, and in the end, I was so tired... I looked forward to that little cupcake."

"It's.."

"A habit.." Bobby said, finishing her sentence. "I'm sorry.."

"No, no sweetie... you have nothing to be sorry about. It's not your fault, what they did to you will never be your fault.. okay? Captain's orders."

That made Maeve laugh just a little, and Bobby chuckled. "Hey, are you laughing at your captain?" He joked, which made Maeve laugh more.

"No.." Maeve giggled. "You are! Come on, you stop that laughing or I will give you hose maintenance for the rest of the week."

"You can't make me."

"You wanna test that?" Bobby chuckled, tickling her. "Okay! I'll stop, sorry cap.." Bobby smiled and sat back on the bench.

Just then, someone slipped and fell with a nasty crack, causing two other people to crash into them.

Bobby and Maeve look at each other and sighed, there was no end to this job.

...

Finally, Bobby and Maeve got home. The lights were off and it was quiet, weird. "Mama! We're home!" Maeve announced. But there was no reply, until the lights turned on and everyone jumped out, they were about to say happy birthday but Maeve got startled.

It startled Maeve so bad, she shape-shifted into a cat, then dragon and blasted a ball of light right next to Buck's head.

Everyone turned to it and back to Maeve and Bobby, "Happy Birthday!"

"What's going on?" Maeve asked Bobby, her eyes darting around the room. "It's a party. At this time, exactly one year ago, we met. That's something worth celebrating right?"

Maeve smiled at him and hugged him tightly, "thank you, daddy.."

The party was huge, with lights and balloons, and it lasted way beyond Maeve's bedtime. One of Maeve's favourite days ever.

Until later that party, Maeve answered the door and it was a mailman. Said he had a package for Maeve, it was a small box.

Maeve opened the door and her smile dropped, inside was a little cupcake.

With a card, saying happy birthday.

Maeve tucked it under her bed and waited for the party to end. Once Bobby and Athena was asleep, she took out the box.

Same cupcake.

Same time.

Only this time, she didn't lose blood.

Bobby's words played in her head, what they did to her was bad. Quietly, Maeve shape-shifted into a dragon and with one little blast of fire...

She burned the box and watered it down before it did any damage to the house.

And she threw the box away.

They weren't her parents anymore, so nothing could take her away from Bobby and Athena.

However, Maeve's fosters beg to differ.

LORE.