Roy DeSoto and Johnny Gage were driving back from their recently cancelled call to the station. It was a nice clear day that seemed to be calm enough, and yet the traffic was crazier than usual making it exceedingly difficult to navigate the streets.

"Man, why does everyone seem to go crazy all at the same time?" Johnny asked his partner who was behind the wheel. "A cancelled call is one thing, but to cancel on a woman in labor?"

"Beats me. Seems like we go through this kind of nonsense always after the full moon. Like clockwork or something."

"Lunatics. That's all they are, lunatics!" Johnny grinned.

"Well, if you see someone start to grow fur or fangs let me know, we'll take the back roads!" Roy joked.

Just as the squad pulled onto a lengthy metal bridge overlooking a temporarily, and partially dried up riverbed, another smaller car pulled onto the bridge from the opposite side.

From behind the small car another larger car came screaming down the road and onto the bridge on its squealing tires. The speeding car passed by the smaller car and, to ensure that it pulled back into its own lane before it hit the squad head on, it cut off the smaller car causing it slam on the brakes and lose control.

Johnny and Roy watched in helpless horror as the small car crashed into the side of the bridge. The force of the impact caused the small car to spin wildly and come to a sudden halt, balancing precariously on the thick concrete safety barricade that was the railing of the bridge. The car teetered back and forth, centered perfectly on the edge, threatening at any moment lose its balance an fall freely to the muddy riverbed below.

The speeding vehicle continued on its way, never slowing down, as it sped by the squad.

Coming to a stop on the bridge Roy turned on the squad lights and called in the accident, while Johnny exited the squad to check on the driver of the car.

Carefully approaching the car Johnny looked through the partially cracked windshield and spied a young woman behind the wheel. Her eyes were wide with fear and her knuckles white from the grip on the steering wheel.

"Miss?" Johnny called out to the woman in a calm tone. "Can you hear me?"

"Please help! Please help!" The woman begged in a shaky voice. "I can't get out! My baby!"

"You have a baby?"

"Yes! She's in the backseat, I can't get to her!"

"Calm down, we'll get you both out. My partner and I are both firefighters, we can help you."

"Please! Hurry!" The woman continued to beg fearfully.

"Keep as still as possible, we'll get you out!" Johnny reassured her.

Roy walked walked over to Johnny with a strong rope over his shoulder. One end of the rope was already secured to the rear winch on the squad. "I called it into dispatch, Cap will be here soon. What do we have?"

"Two trapped in the car. The driver and her baby in the backseat."

"Is she hurt?" Roy asked as he handed the free end of the rope to Johnny.

"I can't tell. She's scared out of her mind." Johnny tied the rope to the front axel of the car.

"I don't blame her." Roy watched as Johnny expertly secured the car to the rope to help steady it. "Think it'll hold?"

"It should." Johnny commented as he approached the driver's side door. "Now miss, I'm going to open the door. Slowly. Don't move. My partner and I will help you get out."

"My daughter! I can't leave her!"

From the backseat Johnny could hear the baby beginning to cry. "We'll get her out, too, don't worry."

Roy put his hands on the hood of the car and steadily pressed down to try and keep a majority of the car's weight on the half still over the bridge, while Johnny slowly opened the door; careful to keep the door from suddenly swinging open shifting the weight.

"Can you unbuckle your seatbelt?" Johnny asked as he peered into the car.

"N-no. It's stuck!" The woman turned her head toward her still crying daughter and began to speak to her in a soothing tone.

"Okay, not going to be a problem." Johnny took the small utility knife from his pocket and began cutting away at the fabric mesh that composed the seatbelt. "I'm going to get you out of here and then I'm going to get your daughter. Everything will be okay."

"Okay, okay..." The woman took a few breaths to calm herself as she waited for Johnny to finish cutting through the seatbelt.

"There." Johnny slipped the belt away from the woman, during this process he visually assessed the woman's condition. "You have a cut on your forehead. Does your head hurt?"

"No, I didn't even feel it." The woman pressed her fingers to her forehead and saw the small blood spots. "Is it serious?"

"I doubt it." Johnny responded coolly and honestly. "You're conscious and aware of everything, I think you'll just need a Band-Aid." He held out his hand for the woman to grab onto. "Okay, now let me lead you out of the car. Don't move too fast; you might get dizzy, and the sudden shift in weight can throw the car off balance, alright?"

"Okay, yes. I'm ready." She grabbed onto his hand, her fingers trembling as they gripped onto his own. She looked back at her daughter. "Mommy is okay, I'll be waiting for you outside the car, everything will be okay."

Johnny helped the woman swing her legs out of the car and onto the ground before letting her stand up at a slow, controlled pace.

Unseen by the rescuers was the large crack in the concrete barrier below the car. The crack was widening, eroding with each minute shift of the car's heavy weight and steel frame grinding into it.

As the woman began stepping away from her car a large chunk of loosed concrete broke free of the barrier and fell away. The car's weight suddenly unbalanced, shifted and began slowly slipping toward the edge of the bridge; looming closer to falling.

Johnny instinctively put himself between the woman and the car as it groaned and shifted its position. Roy did his best to keep the car from swaying any further, but his weight was nothing compared to the car.

"No! My baby!" She screamed in terror as her baby began doing the same.

"Easy, she'll be okay!" Johnny tried to calm the woman again.

In the distance the sound of the approaching engine's sirens blared louder and louder as 'Big Red' sped toward the accident.

"Johnny, I don't think the car is going to wait for the engine." Roy commented dryly as he did his best to keep the front of the car steady using only his hands and adrenaline fueled strength.

"I think you're right." Johnny agreed as he cautiously approached the car. He peered inside and into the backseat. "I think I can reach inside, unbuckle her and hand her to you without any difficulty."

"Are you sure?" Roy didn't like the idea, it was too risky; but they didn't have many options.

"I'm sure." Johnny answered confidently.

Using precise movements and a controlled weight distribution Johnny climbed into the front seat of the car. He kept his weight centered toward the front of the car, doing everything he could to keep the weight balanced in their favor.

In the backseat the toddler was still crying, obviously frightened and unable to do anything to help herself.

With one hand Johnny reached into the backseat and unfastened the buckle holding her in her seat. "Honey, can you lean toward me?" Johnny forced himself to smile, trying to earn the little girl's trust while hoping she could understand what he was saying. "I'm going to get you out of here and get you to your mom, okay?"

The toddler did as she was told and clumsily leaned out of her seat toward Johnny.

Johnny picked the little girl up and began sliding back out of the car and to the still opened door. Roy left his position at the front of the car and was at the door, ready to take the little girl from Johnny.

As Johnny stretched his arms to hand the girl to Roy, his shoulder bumped the steering wheel. The tires shifted and so did the weight.

Roy managed to get ahold of the little girl and pull her to safety just seconds before the car shifted its position violently. The door slammed shut and knocked Johnny back.

The engine pulled up and onto the bridge in time to watch as the car began falling from the bridge, over the failing safety railing.

"Johnny?!" Roy called out for his partner as he pulled the woman and her reunited daughter away from the danger, toward the squad.

The rope that had been tied to the axel of the car held fast as the axel was suddenly ripped free from the undercarriage of the car itself. The car, with Johnny still inside, plummeted uncontrollably from the bridge and crashed with a sickening crunch of metal and glass onto the riverbed below.

...to be continued...