"I hope you won't mind..." Began Regan looking in Albert's direction. "My pal here had a hard day at the office... shall we say. And I thought some normalcy might do him good." The PART officer tossed a secretive apologetic look Teagan's way and introduced Albert. The firefighter just smiled reassuringly and extended her hand to Albert.

	"It's a pleasure to meat you, Albert." Teagan said. "I'm Teagan Heyes and this is my family." She turned to indicate her parents and Megan.

	Martha, the ever more sociable of the bunch, leaned forward and looked at Albert with undisguised sympathy. "Were you by any chance that officer that survived that horrible ordeal at the docks today?"

	"Ma!" Teagan exclaimed exasperatedly.

	"Martha..." Rory spoke calmly from besides his wife. "Don't attack the lad. I know it's been quite some time since I retired, but I bet you still remember how I was after a hard call." The ex-firefighter admonished.

	Martha's gently aging face scrunched up in a thoughtful grimace. Of course she remembered. After a hard call Rory would always come home stoic, taciturn. And no hail or high water would make him talk before he was good and ready to open up. Teagan was the same after an unsuccessful rescue call. She looked apologetically at their new guest.

	"Forgive me, dear, sometimes the curiosity of this crazy old woman gets the better of her." She petted his arm gently. "I know perfectly well, from being a wife and a mother to firefighters how difficult it can be for you to bring the harshness of what you deal with in your home and among your loved ones." She petted her husband's hand lovingly and gazed at her daughter with the same conviction. "Regan's a friend to my girl and if you're her friend, this means you are ours as well. We might be strangers to you now, but do know that there are people out there who think of you and keep you in their minds always." She straightened a bit. "Now if you three kids would like to talk shop, we three on this side of the table..." She indicated herself, Megan and Rory. "Can find something to talk about." With that she took a brochure and called upon Rory and Megan to huddle over it in discussion.

	"Well... That's me Ma for ye." Teagan chuckled.

	"What she meant by talking shop..." Regan clarified. "Is that Teagan is about to get evaluated for the ECPD SAR response team. So far she's been volunteering."

	Teagan nodded. "Aye. That's where I'd like to start at least. After coming face to face with the dangers in Epic City during the Swarm rats attack, I want to be able to play a more active role in protecting the innocent people not able to defend themselves. So with that in mind I'll be aiming for a position in PART down the road." She winked at Reagan. "Have you thought about it, Albert?" Teagan asked.

[@AtomicNut]