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‘No – she’s not.’ Jason could see a look of alarm on Laura’s face as he made the confident statement, but he had just seen something that filled him with elation.

‘Look!’

They all looked down. A small arm was moving, then the head. And the child was making a sound. A cough? A cry? Tim pulled the airway protection device from her mouth just as she opened her eyes. And then the miracle happened. The tiny girl looked at all the faces looming over her and saw her mother. Two small arms, one trailing an IV line, were held up with mute appeal.

‘She recognises Mum.’ Tim had a broad grin on his face.

‘Can I pick her up? Please?’

‘Of course.’ Laura crouched again to adjust wires and help lift the child. ‘You can hold her in the ambulance and we’ll take you into hospital together.’

‘She’s going to be all right, though, isn’t she?’ Tears were streaming down the young mother’s face as she gathered the child into her arms. ‘Not… brain damaged or anything?’

Laura seemed to be hesitating as she grabbed the IV line to prevent it tangling as Vicky wrapped her arms around her mother’s neck.

‘Mum-meee…’

They all heard the child’s faint but unmistakable cry. Laura’s smile wobbled around the edges.

‘I think she’s going to be fine,’ she said. ‘But we still need to get her into hospital straight away.’

‘Wait!’ The mother turned as she was being ushered up the steps into the back of the ambulance. ‘Who was it who found her? Where was she?’

Jason stepped forward.

‘She was in the laundry basket,’ he told her. ‘Underneath the washing.’

Vicky’s mother was laughing and crying at the same time. ‘That’s one of her favourite places for hide and seek,’ she said brokenly, ‘but I would never have thought of looking there.’

‘It might have saved her,’ Jason said. ‘All the clothes would have protected her from the smoke.’

‘You saved her. I… I don’t know how to thank you.’

‘These guys did a lot more than I did.’ Jason waved his arm towards the ambulance crew, appalled to feel that painful lump back in this throat. This time it was made worse by an ominous prickling sensation in the corners of his eyes. ‘You go with them now,’ he added gruffly. ‘I’ve got work I should be doing.’

Any assistance with the clean-up operations had to wait another minute or two, however. Jason watched both ambulances leaving the scene as he pulled himself back together. This was ridiculous. Okay, they had saved the kid’s life and that was a thrill, but he’d seen young victims of house fires before. Some of those had been lucky as well, but he’d never experienced such an emotional response to any job as he had this morning.

It wasn’t until he was back on station and everything was tidy enough to let the crew take time out for a well-deserved break that Jason started to feel settled again. And that was crazy. Who would have thought it would help, having a baby shoved into his arms, along with a bottle of milk and instructions to feed his daughter before he fed himself any of Mrs M’s delicious double-chocolate muffins, still warm from the oven?

But help it did. She was warm and heavy and felt… alive. Stick’s eyebrows shot up as Jason tucked the baby into the crook of his arm and started feeding her without any drama. Jason tried to sound nonchalant.

‘It’s not as tough as it looks. You just hold the bottle and she does the rest.’

Stick watched the baby’s vigorous sucking, the big eyes that were fastened intently on her father’s face and the miniature hand that looked as though it was trying to help hold the bottle.

‘She’s actually kinda cute, isn’t she?’

‘You won’t say that when her nappy needs changing, believe me. You should have seen what I had to deal with last night.’

Stick’s grimace was sympathetic. ‘Gross, huh?’

‘Worse than gross, mate. It looked like⁠—’

‘Do you mind?’ Bruce was reaching for a second muffin. ‘We’re trying to eat here.’

‘Save some for me,’ Jason warned. He looked down at Megan. ‘Hurry up,’ he urged. ‘It’s my turn.’

‘Bet you say that to all the girls.’ Stick grinned.