#trans masc TK strand

[eddieheart]

Take Me To Texas

(Part one)

Fandom: 911: Lone Star

Pairings: Past TK Strand X Alex

Words: 2089

Description: How TK found himself and his father.

Warning: talk of triggering topics, overdose, implied prostitution, implied sexual assault, domestic abuse, implied domestic abuse, implied homelessness

Author’s note: So this is the first story I’ve written/published in months, I’ve had terrible writer block paired with a mixture of no motivation and executive distinction, so I really hope you enjoy! That’s again to @buggylad for editing.

——

TK guessed it started when he was a kid. Playing around the house with his trucks and firefighters. Refusing to wear dresses, only 'boys' clothes.

They were all obvious signs, if not that maybe running around the house at full speed insisting his new name was Tyler. Anything else was too 'girly'.

He always has been and always will be, Tyler Kennedy (He didn't choose the middle name but what could he do, he was stuck with it) Strand. And boy, he made sure everyone knew.

TK was grateful enough to have grown up in New York City. A place where he could be himself with less... backlash. There were always gender neutral bathrooms and single stall change rooms.

It had been rough, being gay and trans, even in a place like New York. Bigots are bigot regardless of where you live.

But with the support of both his parents and a firehouse full of people (willing to do anything to protect him) TK was able to transition safely.

TK has spent every day since his unofficial name change as Tyler and he loved every damn second of being him. Well, maybe that was a bit of a broad statement. Life, like always, has its ups and downs, he's just happy he gets to go through them as Tyler.

Just before puberty he started hormone blockers, as a teen he took hormones and as soon as he was eighteen TK got top surgery. His parents had helped pay for it as a birthday gift.

It was a saving grace, being able to get the treatment he needed, but it wasn't all sunshine and roses. His doctor had prescribed him an opioid for the pain and unfortunately TK had gotten addicted.

Because he was out of the house, living alone, no one saw the signs and because he was in school, his parents had just assumed that he had been overly focused in his work, forgetting to reach out.

What his parents didn't know was that their only son was spirally. Something that people don't realize is that the more you use drugs, any drugs, the more you get accustomed to that dose, and soon enough you need a higher and higher dosage to get the same effects.

It's because of that, that TK eventually turned to heroine. He'd always hated t-shots as a kid but because he needed it so often he became very good with needles. It's not like he was sharing them, he always got clean ones. Either from the store or the shelter and he was as safe as he could've been given the circumstances.

It all went by so fast, his past life slipping away before his eyes. He got in too deep, ran out of money and had to find different ways to pay for what he needed.

Though in the end it hadn't mattered how safe he'd been, he overdosed. Though it was this final hit to rock bottom that brought TK, at that point, to the most difficult part of his adult life, pregnancy.

//

"That's impossible, I've been taking T since I was a kid, I was on hormone blockers!"

"It's unlikely yes, but not impossible. Tyler, TK, you are pregnant. I have some information here that you can look at and when you're ready to talk we can discuss your options. Wether that be keeping your baby or, possibly, having an abortion."

//

Tyler had been more than terrified, how could he make a decision this important alone? He couldn't go to Alex, surely not his parents and by now he'd lost all his friends. He was not ready to be a parent, that he knew.  

After weeks of deliberation TK decided he would keep his baby and hopefully adopt her out to family who could take care of her. But when she had opened her eyes for the very first time, staring up at him with wonder and adoration, he knew he couldn't let her go.

He didn't know it then, but keeping Charlie had been the best decision of his life and since then he's never looked back.

                                 ——

"Hey, Greene?," TK asked casually, glancing up from the floor. Broom griped tightly in his hands. "Do you know anything about new positions in other districts?"

"Thinking of moving you and little miss mazel?" The other replied in a playful tone.

Eric had turned away from the fire engine, rag still held tightly in hand, glancing up at TK. Greene had a jovial smile so bright that TK could already feel the corners of his lips twitching up.

"Oh, I don't know.. Just thinking that maybe a change might be good." His eyes darting nervously between his senior and the stations floor.

Green seemed to ponder for a moment before turning back to him.

"Well you got dual certified right? Last I heard there was an ambo opening in Austin." Tyler's eyes widened, that far away.

"Texas?"

"Yeah. You interested?"

Thought started to flash by, he knew it'd be all well and good until the neighbourhood found out he wasn't at all like the white, cishet, Christian he appeared to be. What would a bunch of conservative Texans do to a trans, gay Jewish man, who'd given birth to a baby girl?

"In Texas? I don't know man, probably not." He replied sullenly.

"I'll keep your hat in the ring just in case."

                                ——

A pounding interrupted the peaceful silence of both TK and Charlie's apartment. The door chain rattled as someone roughly hit the hard wood, over and over.

"Let me in TK!" Alex's voice screamed out.

A chill went up his spine, like ice water being thrown down his back. TK stood up straighter and made his way over to the entrance of his home.

"Let me in!" Alex yelled out again, voice carrying through the entire apartment.

Thank god Charlie was still in bed, that kid slept like a rock. As soon as her head hit the pillow she was out, o she'd slept through an entire thunderstorm. It was incredibly hard to wake her once she was down, which TK was very thankful for right now.

"Leave Alex! I have to take Charlie to school." He yelled back at man behind the door.

TK realized his mistake as soon as he spoke, the other man quickly yelling back through the door.

"I can help with that baby! C'mon!" If TK didn't know better, Alex could have almost sounded sincere.

But he wasn't an idiot, he knew what this was really about. He also knew that as soon as his 'sorry' phase was done Alex would go right back to how things were before.

"If you don't leave now I'm calling the cops for violating your restraining order! Go now!" Fear swam through TK's stomach, internally begging for Alex to just leave.

"Fine! I'll be back!" Alex had never truly cared about him, he knew that now. After what happened how could he not.

//

TK was in pain, he hadn't realized it until now, but he was hurting. This was going to be the death of him if he didn't change and he couldn't leave his baby girl all alone. It had hurt more that coming down from drugs the first time and all the times after that too.

It was just a slap to the face, but it wasn't just a slap. Certainly he'd sustained worse injuries, but this had been the last straw. Alex had hit him before, belittled him, neglected him, forced him to do unsavoury things, things that left a bad taste in his mouth.

But he'd never done it in front of Charlie before, never. TK had heard he scream, seen the tears roll down her eyes and watched as Alex stormed out the apartment in a rage. So no, it wasn't just a slap in the face, it was a revelation.

So that's how they ended up here, all their belongings quickly packed up into TK's car driving to his dads house. They hadn't see each other in way too long, but right now he needed his dad.

Charlie had stirred awake as TK pulled into the driveway of his childhood home. TK unclasoed his seatbelt as the little girl rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"Daddy, we d'er 'et?" She asked in a soft, tired voice.

"Not yet sweetie, I'm gonna go check to see if everything is ready and if it is I'll come get you. You just go back to sleep okay?"

"M'kay."

//

Things had sort of worked out in the end, even though Alex finding their new apartment was more than a setback in both he and Charlie's lives.

"Charlie? Charlie barley, Charlie barley bee? Where's my bumble bee?" TK called out.

He wandered through their apartment halls, peaking around corners, trying to find his little baby. Rounding a final corner he came face to face with his baby girl, a blanket draped around her shoulders covering her head slightly.

TK scooped her up into his arms and spun her around, only stopping to gently tickle her tummy.

"There you are!" He cried out in mock outrage and surprise.

"Ahhhh!" Charlie yelled in a mess of playful, glee filled screams.

TK fell backwards onto the couch the young girl held softly, yet firmly in his arms. She leaned back into her dads chest hands making a grabbing motion, trying to play with his hair.

"Bababa! I caught-ed you! I did you've been catch-ed-id!"

He smiled into the little girl's hair, she squirmed in his hold, joyfully kicking her feet. Charlie threw herself backwards into his arms over and over, causing TK to let out whatever was left in his lungs as she swung about.

"Daddy!" She cried out again.

TK chuckled at her antics, pressing his cheek to hers, faces side by side, holding her tiny little hands in his much larger ones.

"What do I win for catching you bubba?" He asked jokingly, rocking her side to side.

Her feet swung back and forth, eventually she became too wiggly to hold in his arms and she began to push away again.

"Daddy!"

"Charlie!" TK called back in the same tone.

Charlie slid off his lap and grabbed the tv remote off of the coffee table. She slowly threw herself back onto the couch, trying to get back up. TK chuckled to himself, she was too small to just sit down so she had to use one leg on top of the couch to pull herself up.

When her mission was finally accomplished, Charlie pressed the hunk of plastic into her dad's chest and sat down next to him. She pushed her face into his side playfully.

"Wanna watch the TV with me Charlie bee?"

Her response what immediate, head shooting yo from where her forehead had been resting on his shirt.

"Ews!" She yelled out excitedly, arms flapping up and down beside her.

"The news? What is with you kid, I've never met another two year old who likes the news." TK asked, a playful smile on his face.

"Ewws! Ews!" She cried out again at the seemingly arborant lack of outdated musak and weather reports.

"Okay, okay, I'll put on the news." As soon as the tv was turned on Charlie jumped up from her sitting position on the couch cushion and threw herself back into TK's lap.

An older grey haired man came into frame.

"Uncle Bob!"

"Yeah! Uncle bob? Since when is he your uncle?"

"F'ever." She mumbled out, eyes glued to the television in front of her.

"Since forever? I don't know about that."

"Mmmhmm." She replied forcefully.

"Okay then."

The noise of the tv filled the apartment Charlie enthralled with local news stories and TK enamoured by his little girls reactions to what was being said.

Suddenly, a new segment cut through his daze and seemed to finally bring Tyler's attention back up to the screen.

"And now a story all the way from Austin, Texas. A fire crew lead by New York's own Owen Strand a former NYFD fire captain and now..." the sound drowned out, he barely heard anything after the name.

Owen Strand, His dad.

"Hey baby, how would you feel about moving to Texas?"

Thanks again for reading, let me know if you want/what you want to see in chapter two!