that was us (kid fic au version)
(that was us is my abby and tommy au where they meet much earlier, right after tommy gets out of the army and joins the fire department and they’re together from 2005 to 2008. it’s posted on my ao3!)
about six months after they meet and start dating, abby finds out that she's pregnant
tommy proposes
they have a baby! victoria
the relationship fizzles a few years in, when they both realize that they've become great co-parents but they're not in love with each other (they do love each other, though!)
they juggle their work shifts so that they can swap off tori between them and still go to dispatch/the fire house - gerrard doesn't want to switch tommy off A shift so abby gets a little more flexible, but later captains are willing to swap when they need them
tori's nickname is bug, short for ladybug - because she's got red hair like her mom
buck obviously meets 13 year old tori, who is living mostly with tommy at that point — patricia is not doing well and neither abby nor tommy wants tori to have to experience patricia having an episode and getting scared. tori likes buck a lot but doesn't want her dad to feel like she's picking sides because she's always going to like tommy the best so she just calls him "mom's boyfriend" whenever they talk about him.
(when tommy tells 20 year old tori that he's dating someone named evan it doesn't ring any bells, and she'll get a photo out of her dad eventually but she's in her second year at usc and she's got homework to worry about. at least may is a good partner, because why are there so many group projects!)
tori comes home from school to do laundry, and tommy and buck are making out on the couch. tori's just like "hey dad, hey buck," and keeps going towards the laundry room. all three of them pause, she backtracks, looks at them, starts laughing, goes "mom is going to have a field day." heads back to the kitchen and steals herself one of tommy's craft beers.
tommy and buck have to talk about who tori's mom is. tori finds it HYSTERICAL which oddly enough keeps it from being awkward.
(she tells this story to all of their friends the first time they all get invited over to the house)
